<div align="center"> vs Toronto Raptors (16-20) vs Boston Celtics(12-22) Local TV: Toronto (The Score), Boston (FSN New England) Venue: The Boston Garden Date: Friday, Jan 12th, 2007 TipOff time: 7:40 PM Eastern</div> [DIV=50%] <font size="3">Projected Starters</font> <div align="center"> <font size="1">TJ Ford-Anthony Parker-Jorge Garbajosa-Chris Bosh-Rasho Nesterovic</font> <font size="3">Key Reserves</font> <font size="1">Jose Calderon-Andrea Bargnani-Joey Graham-Morris Peterson</font> <font size="3">Coach</font> <font size="1">Smitch</font></div> <font size="3">Key Injuries</font> Pape Sow (Neck) - Probable [/DIV] <font size="3">Projected Starters</font> <div align="center"> <font size="1">Sebastian Telfair-Gerald Green-Ryan Goems-Al Jefferson-Kendrick Perkins</font> <font size="3">Key Reserves</font> <font size="1">Allen Ray-Rajon Rondo-Michael Olowokandi-Brian Scalabrine</font> <font size="3">Coach</font> <font size="1">Doc Rivers</font></div> <font size="3">Key Injuries</font> Paul Pierce (Ankle) - Out Wally Szczerbiak (Knee) - Out Delonte West (Ankle) - Out Tony Allen (Knee) - Out <div align="center"> <font size=""3"">Key Matchup: </font> vs Chris Bosh vs Al Jefferson Bottom line is this, despite the Al Jefferson Hype Machine AKA Celtic fans, Bosh is much better than Jefferson at every aspect of the game. And considering the heavily under-manned line up the C's are playing with, it is very important for Bosh not only to attack Al on the offensive end, but to contain him defensivley and keep him off the glass. Jefferson is the only legit scorer they have, and CB must keep him in check or this will turn into a close contest than we hope. <font size=""3""><font color=""Green"">X-Factor</font></font> Brian Scalabrine Matt Bonn.... err Brian Scalabrine will undoubtly get major burn in this one. I recall him scoring at will against us earlier in the season. Must keep this average Bonner-clone in tight check. Take away his shots and beat him to every loose ball. If Boston hope for a win here, Scalabrine will play a big role in it. </div> <font size=""3"">Let The Sir Speak:</font> When told by someone that Laettner, had he been fully healthy, has smiliar skills to Larry Bird: "The only thing Christian Laettner has in common with Larry Bird is they both pee standing up." <font size="3">Prediction</font> We win in a relativley close game, 103-89. <div align="center"> </div>
anybody else notice the celtics have no shooters outside of scalabrine. i would give every celtic player 5 feet.
<div class="quote_poster">elevate Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Bosh should win against jefferson. not so sure about his team tho.</div> Yeah, Bosh will probably dominate Jefferson so look for the Celts to double Bosh. As for the game, this is just like the Milwaukee game. They're missing alot of their starters and the Raptors need to take advantage of their weak backcourt. I really don't see how the Raptors can lose this one.
Great Job on the preview. Boston is hurting big time so lets hope the raptors put them away early. I watched the Nets/Bulls game tonight and the Nets battled back from down 18 to win the game but it just seemed like New Jersey was finally starting to get their **** together; So if the Raptors want to win the atlantic i don't think they can afford to lose to teams like Boston. Of note the Raptors have ten games left in the month of january. 7 of them are at home and of the 3 on the road against Boston (12-22), Philly(9-26) and Indiana (20-16) all beatable teams. Conversly the Nets have 11 games left in the month of January, 8 of them are on the road and the 3 at home are against Indiana (20-16), Orlando (22-12) and Detroit (20-13). This is the month to put Newjersey in our rearview mirror!
<div class="quote_poster">Drunkballer Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Great Job on the preview. Boston is hurting big time so lets hope the raptors put them away early. I watched the Nets/Bulls game tonight and the Nets battled back from down 18 to win the game but it just seemed like New Jersey was finally starting to get their **** together; So if the Raptors want to win the atlantic i don't think they can afford to lose to teams like Boston. Of note the Raptors have ten games left in the month of january. 7 of them are at home and of the 3 on the road against Boston (12-22), Philly(9-26) and Indiana (20-16) all beatable teams. Conversly the Nets have 11 games left in the month of January, 8 of them are on the road and the 3 at home are against Indiana (20-16), Orlando (22-12) and Detroit (20-13). This is the month to put Newjersey in our rearview mirror!</div> i disagree with the spirit of this post. first and foremost, if the nets do well on the road like last night's performance in chicago, they would put us in their rearview. furthermore, four of the remaining games are against playoff teams as well as a very good kings team, who the raptors have historically struggled against. lastly, do we trust chris "the scarecrow" bosh to lead us through the most critical month of his basketball life?
<div class="quote_poster">deception Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> lastly, do we trust chris "the scarecrow" bosh to lead us through the most critical month of his basketball life?</div> I think Bosh's style of defense says a lot about Mitchell's coaching style because we're starting to see the same thing from Bargnani. At the begining of the year Bargs would play defense pretty hard (pretty poorly also as he didn't understand the game) and now he plays like Bosh were he kind of avoids looking like he's out of position or trying too hard. If Mitchell sees a guy trying hard but ariving late on a rotation and it results in a basket, that guy gets screwed to the bench. But on the flip side if someone is playing matador defense they seem to get a free pass(not just talking about Bosh). Mitchell doesn't seem to identify when guys aren't trying on D.
<div class="quote_poster">deception Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">i disagree with the spirit of this post. first and foremost, if the nets do well on the road like last night's performance in chicago, they would put us in their rearview. furthermore, four of the remaining games are against playoff teams as well as a very good kings team, who the raptors have historically struggled against. lastly, do we trust chris "the scarecrow" bosh to lead us through the most critical month of his basketball life?</div> I disagree with the spirit of the post??? look the spirit of the post is this: The Raptors have a far easier remaining schedule this month, that is indisputable. Whether or not the raptors capitalize on the schedule or not is another thing. Nevertheless, I predict that when this month is over we maybe have a 2-4 game lead on the nets heading into the final push. If your predicting that the inverse happens and the nets gain ground than thats your opinion.
Chuck seems pumped up about TJ Ford's 4-5 shooting in the first q ... I on the other hand am not. Our offense looks like crap. The two guys who are involved in the play (either the passer, the screener, or the guy taking the shot) move and that's it. The other guys just stand around. No one is crashing the boards and there's a complete lack of movement. I swear we see something different every night, it's totally random !!!
<div class="quote_poster">deception Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">anybody else notice the celtics have no shooters outside of scalabrine. i would give every celtic player 5 feet.</div> They have Allen Ray if he ever gets minutes.
That was a stupid technical call on Bosh, but Leo and Chuck pulled a pretty retarded excuse. He was looking at his own bench? Why the hell would Bosh glare at his bench after a dunk?
^^ LMFAO!!! Yeah, that was not a tech. I'm not sure what he was staring at but it sure as hell wasn't 'Kandi or any of the Celtics.
I don't know about you guys but i can't help but feel that we are losing this game even though the score doesn't indicate it. With the amount of injuries Boston has we should have complete control. Don't get me wrong I dont' see us as a force or even a legit playoff team (even though we may be there) but we're playing against bench players and rookies. Mitchell is an idiot, the offense ran terribly all half and he failed to make any corrections. I swear if we extend him next year i'm officially giving up on this team. In other news Mo Peterson is going to snap and demand the trade that has been rumoured once a week for the last 3 years. Guy looked pissed when he went to the bench !
I don't blame him. In fact, if he does demand one, I hope he goes on a long rant against Mitchell before he leaves. At least then people would be forced to evaluate Mitchell's coaching ability.
Allen Ray Rondo And Powe kept them in the game, and instead of keep playing them he brings in the lineup that has done nothing Rivers is awful.
I can't believe we had to waste a timeout just now, at the end of the game. If our offense wasn't completely based on swinging around the perimeter, we could've easily broken down their defense. Oh well. We'll win, but it's been a poor effort. EDIT: Listening to Leo bash on Mo-Pete is pissing me off. EDIT 2: What the hell are Spanish onions?
Rondo is destroying the raptors lol, Doc made dumb decisions the celtics could have easily won this game.
<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I can't believe we had to waste a timeout just now, at the end of the game. If our offense wasn't completely based on swinging around the perimeter, we could've easily broken down their defense. Oh well. We'll win, but it's been a poor effort. EDIT: Listening to Leo bash on Mo-Pete is pissing me off.</div> Mo did play a stinker. He didn't get much time, but he didn't make much of it when he was on the floor, those running jumpers are good when they go in, but look terrible when they don't. What made me laugh was seening Fred Jones in the backround with the towel on his head when he was bashing Mo. Does Fred play for the the Raps? Wasen't he a starter for a while?.......hahahahahhaha Its Mitch playing Fred over mo at the begining of the year + the injury that put him in this funk.....stupid mitch
Damn it, Bargnani! Strike a pose after a block like that. We need Bosh to teach him how show some intensity. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting fitch4delk00:</div><div class="quote_post">Rondo is destroying the raptors lol, Doc made dumb decisions the celtics could have easily won this game.</div> No doubt. That's the M.O. for these matchups: which one of these coaches actually wants to win the game? <div class="quote_poster">Quoting norespect:</div><div class="quote_post">Mo did play a stinker. He didn't get much time, but he didn't make much of it when he was on the floor, those running jumpers are good when they go in, but look terrible when they don't. What made me laugh was seening Fred Jones in the backround with the towel on his head when he was bashing Mo. Does Fred play for the the Raps? Wasen't he a starter for a while?.......hahahahahhaha Its Mitch playing Fred over mo at the begining of the year + the injury that put him in this funk.....stupid mitch</div> Yea, I agree Peterson played terrible. But, Leo was talking as if Peterson should've been able to just step in and produce when he's had no consistency with his playing time or role. Meanwhile, Fred Jones has had every oppurtunity, wasted it, yet Chuck still defends him with the "Well he hasn't had the time" comment.
