Milwaukee Bucks (4-8) @ Boston Celtics (5-8) TV: UPN 24 Radio: 620 AM WTMJ WHEN: 6:00 PM WHERE: Fleet Center, Boston, MA Previous Game Celtics 117 @ Magic 101 Lakers 95 @ Bucks 90 Streaks Celtics: Won 1 Bucks: Lost 1 Probable Starters C: Dan Gadzuric/Mark Blount PF: Keith Van Horn/Raef LaFrentz SF: Desmond Mason/Jiri Welsch SG: Michael Redd/Paul Pierce PG: Mo Williams/Gary Payton 6th Man: Mike James/Ricky Davis Coaches: Terry Porter/Doc Rivers Injuries Bucks- TJ Ford- OUT Toni Kukoc- OUT Joe Smith- OUT Daniel Santiago- OUT Celtics Justin Reed-OUT Delonte West-OUT Michael Stewart-OUT Matchup to Watch Michael Redd vs Paul Pierce Redd: 22.3 PPG 5.3 RPG 2.8 APG 0.75 SPG Pierce: 22.7 PPG 7.5 RPG 4.8 APG 1.5 SPG Prediction The Bucks meet the Celtics at the Fleet Center in Boston coming off a loss at home to the Lakers last night. The Bucks seem to play well against the Eastern Conference, and not so well against the West. This one should be close, but I give the edge to Boston, just because the Bucks lack the fire off the bench with Joe out and Desmond starting Celtics by 5
Good win for the C's tonight. Good all around effort. Redd and Williams shot the lights out for the Bucks and Fizer looked good as well.
Redd impresses me everytime I see him. His jumpshot is simply incredible. Van Horn looked good tonight as well. It was a close game, and it was definitely entertaining. I think the Bucks are better than their record. What's the story with Ford? I haven't heard much about him since he went out injured last year. Also, when is Joe Smith expected back?
Wow, what was KVH thinking? when there is less than two seconds left and you are down by 3 YOU DONT GO FOR A LAYUP...Bonehead play, Good win for the C's, Pierce had a nice no look, over the back pass to Raef, that was sweet.
Yeah, but the Celtics denied the ball to anybody beyond the 3 point line. Van Horn drove in trying to draw a foul, and he came pretty damn close to doing just that. Actually, probably about half of the refs in the league would have sent Van Horn to the line there, 75% of them if it were in Milwaukee. Even Doc Rivers said that Ricky scared the hell out of him when he challenged Van Horn's layup.
Yeah, I question KVH's decision making there. You can't leave the game in the hands of the refs, especially not on the road (even if I've seen whistles blown for less contact).
Tough loss for the Bucks. Two questionable calls at the end of the game, both go against the Bucks, but what are you gonna do, the refs swallowed their whistle at the end, right after they were so eager to call that offensive foul on Mo. It wasn't a boneheaded play by KVH. Nothing was available on the 3pt line, so instead of getting a 5 second call he took a chance and broke toward the hoop in order to draw a foul, and some will say he did. TJ Ford probably will never play basketball again Joe Smith probably is out 3-5 more days. Gotta find a way to win these close road games, got beat up on the boards in the 2nd half and missed a ton of free throws
You have to admit that Williams offensive foul was blatant, and they had to call it because the shot actually went in. I was so very surprised that the refs didn't call Ricky for a foul on VH's drive. After seeing the replay, I can honestly say it wasn't a foul, but it sure looked like one when it happened. They should have given Davis the foul just for being stupid enough to challenge the shot. That's bad news to hear about Ford. I think he was going to be great. Wasn't it against the Celtics when he originally got injured?
Williams foul is understandable yes, there was contact, but I guarantee you if it was Paul Pierce, that isn't called. TJ was hurt on a drive to the basket, got kinda floored by Mark Madsen of the TWolves at home, it wasn't dirty, just a hard foul. I was there, and remember seeing the stretcher, wasn't fun
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting gmanspack:</div><div class="quote_post">Williams foul is understandable yes, there was contact, but I guarantee you if it was Paul Pierce, that isn't called. </div>Yeah, that's another good reason why teams usually give the superstar the last shot. They always get the benefit of the doubt with the refs. Redd would have gotten away with that, IMO. As for the Ford injury, I know now that I thought it was against the Celtics because I was watching that game.
