Celtics @ Cavaliers Preview! <font color="Green">Boston Celtics</font> (10-12) @ <font color="DarkRed">Cleveland Cavaliers</font> (6-16) Saturday, Dec. 13, 7:30 pm EST Gund Arena, Cleveland, OH TV: NBATV, WUAB Previous Game Pistons 86 @ Cavaliers 95 Raptors 111 @ Celtics 114 Streaks Cleveland: Won 1 Boston: Won 4 Season Series November 14th, Cavaliers 82 @ Celtics 91 Head Coaches Paul Silas/ Jim O'Brien Probable Starters LeBron James/Mike James Ricky Davis/Paul Pierce Ira Newble/Jiri Welsch Carlos Boozer/Vin Baker Zydrunas Ilgauskas/Mark Blount 6th Men Darius Miles/Eric Williams Players To Watch LeBron James/Paul Pierce James: 16.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, 6.3 assists Pierce: 23.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists Fast Fact The Cavaliers are 6-4 at home, while the Celtics are 5-6 on the road. Injury Lists Cleveland Cavaliers Dajuan Wagner Bruno Sundov DeSagana Diop - out Boston Celtics Brandon Hunter Chris Mills Kendrick Perkins Keys To The Game Cleveland - Contain Paul Pierce. I am sure that the cavaliers will place Ira Newble on Paul, as he is the Cavs defensive specialist. Mike James lives and dies by the 3 point shot, so LeBron James must do a good job of staying on him at all times, as shooting over James (LeBron) could be a little difficult for the Celts 6-2 guard. Boston - LeBron James is now playing a more aggressive style of basketball, so getting the ball out of his hands at mid court is an absolute necessitate. Zone it up, use some pick and rolls, attack the basket, try to make the Cavs work on both sides of the basketball. Isolate Pierce as much as possible. The Sandman's Take The Celtics have been playing great basketball the last 5 (homestand) games, but the Cavaliers have not been to shabby their last 3. Should be a great matchup, but with the Cavs at home and seeing them being much more aggressive, I believe they will find a way to win this game. Cavs by 6 <font size="1">Please visit NBA.com</font>
Boston extended their winning streak to four games with a 114-111 home victory over Toronto on Friday. Paul Pierce scored 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds ,he also played great defense on Carter at the end to avoid him from sinking a triple for the win. The Cavs beat Detroit on Thursday, 95-86, behind a career-high 28 points from Carlos Boozer and 23 and nine assists from star rookie LeBron James.Great performance from Boozer,Celts will have to watch him.Lebron will also be a threat,however the last time i watched him play against Boston [When they bet the Cavaliers, 91-82, in Boston on November 14 ]he struggled. I can their meeting tonight be very exciting and one to watch as both teams are coming off inspirational victorys.
I don't know who will win this one . I'll have to watch the first half to tell you who I'll think will win
Look for the Pierce/Davis matchup to be key. They will most like be matched up against each other on both ends of the court. Pierce is coming off a 33pt game & a 36pt game. So expect him to be extremely aggressive vs Davis. But Davis can not take this battle personally like he tends to do. He has a tendency to be over aggresive in certain battles, taking alot of bad shots, and turning the ball over. This will play right into the hands of the Celtics', who have been one of the top teams at creating turnovers. Oops! I think I just dropped to much basketball knowledge on you guys. So Iam out.
I fully expect Newble to cover Pierce, Ricky just does not have the body to defend him in the post or when he would lower that shoulder and drive to the basket. Newble always defends the otehr teams top scorer (well, Ricky did lock up Iverson once, but that was a quickness matchup) and I don't expect that to change here.
Newble doesnt play alot of minutes. And Hardly plays at all in the 4th. Ricky Davis will find himself matched up against Pierce alot.
Newble will get Pierce especially in the fourth, simply because that's when Paul is notorious for doing a lot of damage. Ricky doesn't have the discipline or body to go with him, and the last thing you want to do is take a risk on a guy coming off the week Pierce has had. Celtics by 11.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Henacy:</div><div class="quote_post">Less than 20 minutes a game on the season</div> I expected that from you, thanks. Newble was hurt to start the season and has been brought along slowly, and just worked his way into the starting lineup last week. Like I said, homework.
The reason the Cavs brought Newble in was for his leadership and defense. He will play in the 4th quarter most likely, matched up against Pierce. The reason Newble hasn't played much, if I am correct, is because he has been injured.
Celtics just came off of a great win at home against the Raptors, so I'm lookin foward to see who will win this game... Should be close, and up for grabs.
I just did the research like you so requested I do. And your stats are kind of fooling. One of his 37 minute games was a double Overt game against the Raptors, every body in your major rotation played around 30 minutes. He did play 37 minutes because he plays major minutes. He played because Paul needed fresh bodies in his rotation. His other 37 minute game was against the Clippers in a second game of a back to back. Every coach in the league extends role players minutes in the second game of a back to back, once again to keep fresh players in the rotation. So the game your are choosing to make your point by are games that alot of lesser used players would recieve minutes in due to rotation. I think you may need better examples.
Did you watch the game against Memphis? Did you see when he played those minutes? Did you look at foul situations? You must be really bored. ---------- BTW, Newble has been on Pierce the entire 1st quarter, hahaha. ---------- Score tied at 29 after one Pierce has 16 James has 11 ---------- Celtics lead 59/48@ the half Pierce has 20, 3, and 3 Baker has 14 James has 20, 2, and 3 Ilgauskas has 9 and 9 Boozer has 8 boards and 4 assists Cavs have 13 turnovers, ouch ---------- Celtics lead 84/76 after 3 Pierce has 35 James has 30 Miles has 20 ---------- Celtics win 105/98 Pierce scored 41 James scored 37 Boozer had 17 and 15 Miles had 24 and 8 in just 20 minutes ----------
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Paul Pierce scored a season-high 41 points and stole the ball from LeBron James in the final minute to help the Boston Celtics win their fifth straight game, 105-98 over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night. James scored a season-high 37 points, but Cleveland's rookie star missed a 3-pointer in the last two minutes and was stripped by Pierce with 15 seconds to go. Boston has won 12 in a row over Cleveland. Pierce, who scored 33 points in a win over Toronto on Friday night, added nine rebounds and six assists -- his biggest a feed to Jiri Welsch, whose 3-pointer with 1:19 remaining made it 100-94. After Carlos Boozer made two free throws for Cleveland, James, who earlier this season became the youngest player in NBA history to score 30 points, scored on a drive to make it 100-98. Mike James hit a pair of free throws to put the Celtics back up by four, and on Cleveland's next possession, Pierce swiped the ball from LeBron James and was fouled with 12.5 seconds left. Pierce, who went 16-of-18 from the foul line, made one of two free throws and Boozer and LeBron James missed shots in the final 10 seconds as the Cavaliers lost for the eighth time in 11 games. Vin Baker added 16 points and Mike James had 13 and nine assists for the Celtics, who were outrebounded 50-32 but grabbed five offensive boards in the final five minutes. Darius Miles had 24 points, and Boozer added 17 and 15 rebounds for Cleveland.</div> Full Story Box Score
Lebron played very well in this loss. Pierce played great, scoring 41. Lebron looks better in every game he plays. All he needs to do is win some games, then I would give him the ROY award. Miles played well coming off the bench. Why did he come off the bench anyway?
His play has been too inconsistent and his defense is terrible. When he comes off the bench he seems to be more effective, like he has somethong to prove. Newble gives us a defender in the lineup that is much needed. The key with James this week has been his aggression, he was 16-18 at the line tonight, he is finally putting it all together. When he attacks the basket, nobody can stop him.
[quote name='Sandman'] When he comes off the bench he seems to be more effective, like he has somethong to prove.QUOTE] He does he has to prove that he can be a great basketball player and that he doesn't deserve to start on the bench. He deserves to start on the court and I think he's going to try to prove that until he starts. And when he starts he's going to play so consistiuntly well that he going to stay a starter. this is what he want's and he want's it bad enough to go 200% to prove he wants to start
37 and a loss? Wow... he shot GREAT from the line, 16-18. Looks like he been practicing his free throws... I was wonderin if most his points were jumpers or inside shots? I wish there was a shot chart. He shot 10-20 and 1-5 from the three...
