<font color="green">GAME PREVIEW Projected Starters for The Boston Celtics Center- Mark Blount Power Forward- Raef Lafrentz Small Forward- Jiri Welsch Shooting Guard- Paul Pierce Point Guard- Gary Payton VS. The Miami Heat Projected Starting Lineup " target="_blank">http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/shaquille_oneal.jpg"></a> Center- Shaquille O'Neal Power Forward- Udonis Haslem Small Forward- Rasual Butler Shooting Guard- Eddie Jones Point Guard- Dwayne Wade ______________________________________________ CELTICS KEYS TO THE GAME -Boston must limit Shaq's ability to score and grab rebounds at will. They can't let him have a huge game. -Gary Payton cannot have Wade as his defensive assignment. The only players that should be guarding Wade should be Welsch, Davis, or Tony Allen. -Boston must play good perimeter defense. They cannot let another good shooter have a huge game because they are consistently left wide open. (ie. Kyle Korver) Jones and Butler will kill you if you let them shoot wide open 3's all game. -The best way to take Shaq out of Miami's defense is to run. Boston should be trying to run an uptempo style all night long. -The Boston starters need to start moving the ball much more than they do. The only time Pierce should be trying to take his man one-on-one is when it's on the up-quick. They need to learn how to score using other means on a consistent basis. MY PREDICTION Boston will make a game of it. They will hang in the game and make Miami work. But, I'm afraid we're in for more disappointment as the Heat take full control in the closing moments of the game. Miami 94 Boston 87</font>
Can I add something to your Keys to the Game? <font color="Green">Get Wade into foul trouble.</font> Actually, I think Payton would be nice to have on Wade for the first quarter, to see how he does on the defensive end. I think he could rip Wade...but if not, I know for a fact that GP won't pull a "Raja Bell" and fall into the first row of fans on a crossover. Pierce needs to get the ball early, IMO...and score, score, score. Shaq will more than likely be unstoppable in this game...but OH what I would give to see Big Al Jefferson swat his shot into next week.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Pierce needs to get the ball early, IMO...and score, score, score.</div>I disagree with that, but only because they are trying to rely on him way too much lately. If other guys can get going early, the defensive pressure on Pierce will become much looser and he can do much more with just one defender on him. Plus, he's been wearing down in the 4th quarter from having to carry the team all game long, so I'd like to see him wait until later to start firing away.
<u><font size="4">Celtics Lose 106-104.</u></font> :thumbsdow ___________________________________________ CELTICS KEYS TO THE GAME -Boston must limit Shaq's ability to score and grab rebounds at will. They can't let him have a huge game. They did a decent job doing that. Shaq wasn't the story of the game. -Gary Payton cannot have Wade as his defensive assignment. The only players that should be guarding Wade should be Welsch, Davis, or Tony Allen. They did just that. Tony Allen did a great job on him whenever he was in there, and kept Wade quiet throughout the 2nd half. -Boston must play good perimeter defense. They cannot let another good shooter have a huge game because they are consistently left wide open. (ie. Kyle Korver) Jones and Butler will kill you if you let them shoot wide open 3's all game. The Jones' boys killed us. They both had plenty of open looks, and most of them were good. -The best way to take Shaq out of Miami's defense is to run. Boston should be trying to run an uptempo style all night long. The 2nd unit really did a good job doing this. Fast break ball got us back in the game when it was looking like it was over. -The Boston starters need to start moving the ball much more than they do. The only time Pierce should be trying to take his man one-on-one is when it's on the up-quick. They need to learn how to score using other means on a consistent basis. Much better tonight than the past few games. Pierce did a good job getting guys involved. I can tell Rivers feels the same way as I do on this subject. MY PREDICTION Boston will make a game of it. They will hang in the game and make Miami work. But, I'm afraid we're in for more disappointment as the Heat take full control in the closing moments of the game. Miami 94 Boston 87 They made it closer than I thought it was going to be. I do think they could have easily won this game if they didn't make so many mistakes late in the 4th. I loved seeing the 2nd squad in there for as long as they were. All around not a bad game, but it would have been great to see them win this one.
I couldn't decide who to root for in this game, since they are my favorite 2 teams. I thought the Heat would blow them out but the Celts made a game of it.
Another tough loss for the Celtics this season is beginning to look like a lost cause for them. Although, there division is relativly weak the best team right now is at .500 if they do not find some way to win the division they will most likely not make the playoffs I think that they needed this game going into Orlando tomorrow to give them confidence. This loss will defenitly startle them going into tomorrows game.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Pure Skillz:</div><div class="quote_post">Another tough loss for the Celtics this season is beginning to look like a lost cause for them. Although, there division is relativly weak the best team right now is at .500 if they do not find some way to win the division they will most likely not make the playoffs</div> I'm not ready to go that far yet. It's a long, long season thats only really just begun. We're not even at the quarter pole yet.
