<div align="center"></div> <div align="center"><font color="green">Boston Celtics</font> VS <font color="red">Houston Rockets</font></div> When: Monday February 1st, 7:00 PM (EST) Where: Boston, Fleet Center Local TV: FSN <div align="center">Predicted Starters <font color="green">Celtics</font> <font size="1"><font face="Arial"><font color="green">Garu Payton, Paul Pierce, Jiri Welsch, Raef Lafrentz, Mark Blount</font></font></font></div> <div align="center"><font color="red">Rockets</font> <font size="1"><font face="Arial"><font color="red">Bob Sura, David Wesley, Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Yao Ming</font></font></font></div> Keys to The Game For Boston <ul> [*]Run the break. The Celtics are a high-scoring team, and a lot of their points come from fast breaks, courtesy of their blazing-fast backcourt players. [*]Paul Pierce comes up big. In the last game that Boston played against Chicago, Paul Pierce, the Celtics lone All-Star, had a bad night from the field, shooting only 2-12. However, he was able to get to the line and attempt 17 free throws. Pierce has to be that multi-dimensional again if he is going to match Tracy McGrady's performance. [*]Three-Pointers. The Celtics attempt a fair amount of triples each night, and for them to maximize their chances of winning, hitting from behind the arc would be key. [/list] Keys To The Game For Houston <ul> [*]Defense. The Celtics are a good offensive team and the Rockets will have to limit their transition points tonight. [*]Yao/McGrady come up big. The duo of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady will have quality defenders on them in the game, but that doesn't mean they don't have to combine for at least 50 for the Rockets to have a good chance of winning. [*]Support Please? The Rockets have depended on role players to step up for them nightly. Howard and Sura can combine for 20-30 points every night and they have to tonight. A little bench production won't hurt too. Scott Padgett will definitely help us again if he continues his recent form off the bench. [/list] Game Outlook The Rockets are on the second game of their four-game road trip. With Bob Sura being a game-time decision, Houston's chances of this game is not good. However, we have won three straight times at the Fleet Center and still have enough firepower to at least make this game against a mediocre Celtics team interesting. Yao Ming and McGrady would most likely have good games. If a third scorer steps up, we'll be fine. Prediction Rockets-92 Celtics-87
Both McGrady and Yao have had a great game yesterday so let's hope they keep it up and let it carry over to this game. However, Houston needs to realize the two can't do it alone. We almost always need some role players to step up to win games and this is no difference. Boston has some great hustle and tough players in Al Jefferson and Tony Allen. Not to mention very skillful players in Paul Pierce and Gary Payton. The key here would be to stay with them throughout the game- not letting them get a big lead and just keeping it within winning distance. Then, just burning them out in the final quarter. Boston has been known to blow some leads in the end, so Houston needs to take advantage of that and just burn them out. Good luck, and my prediction is Houston win, 102-95.
I don't know about you guys, but I feel as though Houston should start Dikembe Mutombo at Power Foward when meeting low scoring frontline's such as The Celtics. It would improve their defense and certainly limit opponent's driving with Yao Ming and Dikembe's shot blocking presense lurking under the basket. Juwan Howard could them come off of the bench when his offense is required, bringing a spark as a reserve. I just think Houston could benefit from more defense rather than Howard's offensive, which could be just as effective off the bench. If Houston could start Dikembe and Yao every night, it would set a defensive tone from the jumpoff, and if more offense is needed, Howard is always available off the bench. Just an idea...
Dikembe has never been on the court at the same time as Yao, so it's evident that Van Gundy doesn't want to play Deke at the four. He would clog up the lane on offense, and also he doesn't have enough energy to start at this point of his career. However, he does bring rebounding and shotblocking. Lafrentz though, is more of a perimeter player than a post one, so that could give Deke problems on defense.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post"><ul> [*]Three-Pointers. The Celtics attempt a fair amount of triples each night, and for them to maximize their chances of winning, hitting from behind the arc would be key.[/list]</div> I don't really understand why you'd say that. The Celtics average 15.1 3 Point attempts per game, which is only 18th in the league. I think you're confusing the Celtics of a year ago with the Celtics of today.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting 44Thrilla:</div><div class="quote_post">I don't really understand why you'd say that. The Celtics average 15.1 3 Point attempts per game, which is only 18th in the league. I think you're confusing the Celtics of a year ago with the Celtics of today.</div> Sure, I'll admit my mistake. I haven't been watching much Celtics ball lately, but they have a fair amount of three-point jackers, and that was where I based my opinion from. And 15 threes a game is not really a small number. That's about 5 extra points if they make one third of their threes.
No one has commented on our win? wow...It looks like it came down to the wire, T-Mac shooting horribly as was Wesley but Yao was just dominating! Padgett and Barry are really great shooters! maybe Padgett should get a starting game sometime and Wesley should come off the bench...
Barry was on fire in the 4th. He had like 11 points in the opening 3 minutes or so...then he hit a driving layup in the 4th. Jon Barry was ridiculious.
Good win by the Rockets. They could have taken the game without hassle if they were able to contain Ricky Davis who made his first 7 shots in the 4th quarter. It took Ricky Davis a tying shot in the dying seconds before Van Gundy decided to replace Wesley with TMac to do the defensive job. Wesley was just burned out by Davis. Good thing Davis and Pierce missed their shots, we were able to win the game despite a late change in defensive assignment. Great job by Barry also who seems ready to pick up the slack when TMac offense suffers. Anyway it's understandable because TMac played with a slight injury on his back which he blamed on the cold weather in Boston.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting King James X3:</div><div class="quote_post">I don't know about you guys, but I feel as though Houston should start Dikembe Mutombo at Power Foward when meeting low scoring frontline's such as The Celtics. It would improve their defense and certainly limit opponent's driving with Yao Ming and Dikembe's shot blocking presense lurking under the basket. Juwan Howard could them come off of the bench when his offense is required, bringing a spark as a reserve. I just think Houston could benefit from more defense rather than Howard's offensive, which could be just as effective off the bench. If Houston could start Dikembe and Yao every night, it would set a defensive tone from the jumpoff, and if more offense is needed, Howard is always available off the bench. Just an idea...</div> Yeah i agree with you. I've always thought what it would be like to use Dikembe in the pf position instead of juwan. But i don't know if dikembe will be outplayed by smaller faster pf's or whether it would intimidate them. I think it would be better though..juwan is a mediocre defender and he's not that good on the offensive end if he doesnt make the open jumpers.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Dan Le:</div><div class="quote_post">No one has commented on our win? wow...It looks like it came down to the wire, T-Mac shooting horribly as was Wesley but Yao was just dominating! Padgett and Barry are really great shooters! maybe Padgett should get a starting game sometime and Wesley should come off the bench...</div> I was just about to press the "post" button last night when my computer froze, so I'm not guilty there. Good win by the Rockets. Yao has been doing a good job on the boards this past week or two, hopefully he'll keep it up. I'll be happy with 22 points from him any night. McGrady was not able to make his shots, but he was present in virtually every statistical category. And that's just the type of bench production we need from Jon Barry! Our team will be fine if two other players step up every night other than Yao and McGrady. Last night, we had three: Barry, Sura and Wesley.
A good win. Yao did great in this game and for the first time in ages, TMac didnt get his 20 points. Pity that his back acted up or else the score would be a lot higher. Another reason we got the win was because our bench stepped up and knocked down shots. Both Barry and Padgett scored double digits off the bench and that is very nice to see. Again Yao nearly got a double double but his contribution to the team was very good. And he didn't even play 30 minutes because of foul trouble.A good, solid win for the team.
Really is there a way to stop Yao getting into foul trouble? I mean sometimes he just stands there, and somehow he gets a foul called on him! if he could of stayed out of foul trouble and had more minutes he would of really shown what he can do...damn refs, damn me and my biased opinions...damn them refs! haha
Teams are now no longer scared of Yao. They know that he is a weak shotblocker and a slow help defender, so coaches now are instructing their players to drive often. Yao, when he helps out, never tries to block the shot. Instead, he braces himself to draw a charge, which almost every happens anyways. Most of the time, he's called for blocking. He doesn't intimidate opponents anymore, which is why they try to draw fouls on him all the time.
