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Game Preview: Wizards at Celtics
 |
vs. |  |
|---|---|---|
| 24-54 | Record | 49-29 |
| 96.0 | PPG | 99.3 |
| 100.9 | PPGA | 95.3 |
| 44.7 | FG% | 48.5 |
| 46.3 | Opp. FG% | 45.0 |
| 41.6 | Rebounds | 38.6 |
| 18.7 | Assists | 23.7 |
| 14.7 | Turnovers | 15.1 |
| 6.0 | Steals | 8.7 |
| 5.1 | Blocks | 5.0 |
| Point Guard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Shaun Livingston |
Rajon Rondo | ||
| Shooting Guard | |||
Nick Young |
Ray Allen | ||
| Small Forward | |||
Mike Miller |
Paul Pierce | ||
| Power Forward | |||
Andray Blatche |
Kevin Garnett | ||
| Center | |||
Fabricio Oberto |
Kendrick Perkins | ||
| Sixth Man | |||
JaVale McGee |
Rasheed Wallace | ||
Friday, April 9, 2010
TD Garden, 7:30 p.m.
TV: CSN New England
RADIO: WEEI 850 AM
The Celtics will tip off the final weekend of their regular season against the Washington Wizards at 7:30 p.m. tonight in the TD Garden. The C's, for the third game in a row, have an opportunity to sweep the season series against their opponent.
Boston split its first two opportunities to make that happen, as it fell to the Knicks Tuesday night in New York and then beat the Raptors Wednesday night in Toronto. Of those season sweep opportunities, only Toronto has hope of making the playoffs.
In a season that has had many more downs than ups, the Wizards certainly don't have the word "playoffs" running through their mind. Their performance in March was one of the worst in NBA history, as they lost the first 16 games of the month before pulling out a win in New Orleans on March 31.
The third loss of that 16-game losing streak came on March 7 in Boston, where the C's snuck out of the Garden with an 86-83 win. Both teams struggled offensively in that low-scoring affair, as they combined to shoot only 43.3 percent from the field. Boston actually shot far worse than Washington, finishing with a 41.1 percent shooting performance compared to the Wizards' 45.6 percent.
Usually low-scoring games mean that the teams match up pretty well with each other on a physical level, so this could easily happen again tonight. Each team has broken the 100-point barrier only once in the three games these teams have played each other, and both occurrences were in the same game. That's a telltale sign that this one might be a little ugly at the offensive end.
There is one factor that may change that, though. This will be the fourth time these teams meet this season, and it will be the fourth time the Wizards will (likely) trot at least two different starters onto the floor than in the previous meeting. With that inconsistency on their roster, you never know how they will now match up and play against this same Celtics team.
Based on Washington's starting lineup for Wednesday night's game against Orlando, this lineup will look substantially different from the one Boston saw just a month ago. If Flip Saunders goes with the same lineup tonight as he did Wednesday, the C's can expect to see the following changes: Shaun Livingston starting at point guard (in place of the injured Randy Foye), Nick Young start at shooting guard (with Mike Miller moving to small forward), Miller in place of Al Thornton at small forward, and Fabricio Oberto starting at center (in place of JaVale McGee). The only constant would be Andray Blatche at power forward.
That's a far less athletic team, as Oberto is a rather limited player at both ends and Livingston has lost a step or two since his life-altering knee injury. With that being said, Saunders might be tempted to pull a Mike D'Antoni and change up his starting lineup yet again simply because of matchups against the C's.
The smart move would be to get Thornton into the lineup alongside Blatche, as those two combined to score 47 of Washington's 83 points against Boston last month. Of the active players on the Wizards roster, Blatche and Thornton are the leading scorers, averaging 13.5 PPG and 12.0 PPG, respectively. Those numbers are a bit misleading because they both had much smaller roles on the team prior to the trade deadline. Their numbers have been up since the trade deadline, and they, along with Miller, are now the go-to scorers.
Even if both don't start tonight, they will definitely have big roles in the offense. That means that players such as Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Glen Davis and Rasheed Wallace will need to step up their game when they are playing the small forward and power forward positions. If they can limit the scoring of Washington's top two players, the C's should be able to win running away. The Wizards don't have a whole lot of scoring punch on their roster anymore, and that could result in the Celtics finishing off another season sweep tonight.
Notch a convincing win
The Celtics have been in a semi slump for nearly two weeks now, as they lost three in a row, relinquished a huge lead to the Cavs but held on to win, lost to the Knicks and then beat the Raptors by 11 after struggling through three quarters.
What could remedy those two weeks of events? How about a blowout win?
That's definitely something Boston should aim for tonight, as they will be taking on a far inferior team both in talent and in record. Washington is tied for the third-worst record in the league and is now playing with a point guard who is replacing Foye, who was originally their backup point guard when the season began.
Needless to say, the C's will have a huge advantage tonight and should be able to blow Washington out if they play with the energy and passion they usually display during their wins.
KG vs. Blatche
Watch out for this matchup, because it could have some fireworks tonight.
During the last meeting between these two teams, Garnett and Blatche had a few testy moments throughout the game when they seemed to disagree on a few things. It was a hot topic after the game, but Blatche was the only one to make any noise about what happened on the court.
Blatche was actually the player out of that pair who backed up any of the talking he did on the court that day, as he outscored Garnett 23-8. KG did outrebound Blatche, but it was only by a count of 10-9.
If you know Garnett, you know that he doesn't like when people disrespect him. We don't know what was said on the court, but if Blatche did in fact say anything that KG didn't like, you can mark it down that the Celtics' passionate power forward will be looking to bring his best onto the court tonight.
Breaking down the 'D'
One of these teams, the Celtics, is one of the best at breaking down defenses and sharing the ball.
The other team, the Wizards, is the worst team in the league at breaking down defenses and sharing the ball.
They both have something in common, though: they both get even worse at breaking down defenses and sharing the ball against each other.
Boston ranks second in the league in assists, averaging 23.7 per game, but they take a drastic drop down to 19.3 against the Wizards, which is their second-worst average against any team in the league. Washington ranks last in the NBA with 18.7 APG, and they drop down to 16.3 against the C's, which is their worst average against any team they've played more than twice.
The Celtics have the advantage in this department because they have numerous playmakers on offense that can draw extra attention on any given play. When that happens, every one of their teammates on the floor have the ability to put the ball in the basket.
But for some reason, that talent hasn't been on full display against Washington this season. In order to grab a second straight win and begin their weekend back-to-back on a high note, they'll need to bring that ability onto the floor tonight.
