Utah's Scouting report:-Utah likes to slow the ball down, and win the game with their defense. With Jerry Sloan coaching, do you really think they'd try anything else? It also helps having one of the best shotblockers in the league. With limited posessions, they can get completely torn apart by shooting teams. If we can shoot the ball, look for a big win.-They have a few shooters (Matt Harpring, Deron Williams, Mehmet Okur, Devin Brown) that we need to look out for. Devin Brown is coming off a career-high 25 points, but i'm sure that game won't have any effect now because of such a long break between games.How to play them:-We don't necessarily have to speed it up as much against the Jazz as we do against other half court teams. Alot fo times, they take themselves out of games. If AK47 has a bad shooting night, they're doomed. They don't have enough players that step up when needed. If the Celtics canmove the ball, they'll win this one easy. They'll have to pass it around and HIT OPEN SHOTS. I'm confident that both Wally and Delonte are in for big games, and possibly a double-digit assist night for Paul, although i doubt it (AK is a good enough defender to where they don't need to help as much). We'll have to rebound, and stay with Memo. If I'm Doc, I don't want him to win the game for them. They don't have alot of good penetrators, so (hopefully) he shouldn't be too much of a problem.Key Match-upelonte West vs. Deron WilliamsI'm looking for Delonte to have a big night. He's quicker than Williams by a long shot, so he should get to the basket easily. Hopefully Doc will exploit this match-up. Delonte will have to smother Deron on defense, so he will be uncomfortable (he's a rook and he's slow), he won't get as many open looks. I'm not sure if they run many pick-and-rolls, but they probably will w/ Memo being such a good shooter.Final Prediction:BOS-96 UTA-89
Thoughts on the first half: Thank God for Delonte. He's the only one really keeping us in this thing. It's nice to see him actually initiate something in the offense. This should tell him to start shooting more. I hope Wally's injury isn't serious. He looked like he was in agony. We seriously need to learn how to defend a freaking back door cut. The bigs aren't helping, so it leaves a wide open lane. We're having to foul, so now Orien has 4, Paul has 3, Reaf has 3. We've GOT to start playing some defense in the second half, and get a freaking rebound while you're at it.I had no clue how quick Deron Williams was. I thought he was actually pretty slow, but he's very aggressive, and he's killing me. Orien needs to learn how to handle the ball when he's pressured. Deron doesn't seem as quick on offense, so i think it may be more effort than actual quickness.It's official: Brian Scalabrine is the worst player to ever put on a Celtics uniform. He's a disgrace. He gives me nothing but headaches and ailing hands (from punching the wall and coffee table). He's literally worthless right now. I would give him and a pick for absolutely nothing in return if i could. He's killing us out there. He's getting burned, he can't handle the ball, he has no court awareness (Delonte is open on the wing, but he takes it in the lane w/ the left hand, when AK is on his freaking left side! He gets blocked when he could've easily avoided it by going to the right side of the basket, then he complains, not bothering to get back on defense.. easy bucket for Utah. Doc saw Scabs complaining, so he goes bezurk and eventually gets a technical EDIT: I just found out that Scabs got the T anyways :no3. GET WELL SOON PERK & AL!!!
Great win, Kandi man had a great game. Also Delonte played an unbelievable game....and GOMES PLAYS WELL AGAIN, getting to the foul line 4 different times, great stuff. Always great to see games where the young's get really involved. And Wally...well...ugh that sucks
Final Thoughts: :worthy: Delonte was unbelievable tonight. 22 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 3-balls! Great come back guys. Let's not forget about Pierce, he scored as many points as Utah in the 3rd (17). The Cs shot a season-high 59%. WOW. I can't believe we shot so well, without our best shooter! Boston only missed ONE shot in the 3rd, and we outscored Utah 37-17.Boston scored 100+ for the fourth straight time. I hope Wally can come back by tommorrow, bc we'll need his shooting to compete w/ Phoenix. If we shoot even nearly as well as we did tonight, we'll be fine against the Suns.
