CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Celtics Hope to Get Back on Track vs Depleted Warriors

GoldenState Warriors (3-6) at Boston Celtics (8-3)
Wednesday, November 26
7:30 PM ET
Game #12, Home Game #7
TV: CSNHD, CSN Bay Area, NBA LP 758,759
Radio: WEEI
TD Garden
Referees: Scott Foster, Courtney Kirkland, Leon Wood

The Celtics have been off since Saturday and the last time they had 3 days off, they dominated a very good Jazz team.. The Warriors are playing in the second of back to back games and fatigue could be a factor for them especially since they are severely undermanned. .

They just traded disgruntled star Stephen Jackson and Acie Law for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic. Radmanovic has moved into the starting lineup for them and Bell is headed for wrist surgery. The Warriors are very thin up front with most of their bigs on the injured list. The will go small and try to run the Celtics, hoping to wear them out. Even through the team is in turmoil and they are undermanned, it would be a very big mistake for the Celtics to underestimate them. They are a feisty team that took the Cavs down to the wire last night and will hand the Celtics a loss if they take them too lightly.

Probable Starters

PG Rajon Rondo PPG 10.3 RPG 3.5 APG 8.7

SG Ray Allen PPG 15.2 RPG 2.7 APG 3.4

SF Paul Pierce PPG 18.4 RPG 4.8 APG 4.1

PF Kevin Garnett PPG 13.6 RPG 7.5 APG 2.4

C Kendrick Perkins PPG 10.1 RPG 7.1 BPG 2.0

Off the Bench
Reserves
Eddie House
Rasheed Wallace
Marquis Daniels
Shelden Williams
Brian Scalabrine
Lester Hudson
Bill Walker
JR Giddens

Injuries:
Tony Allen (ankle) out
Big Baby Davis (thumb) out
Paul Pierce (knee) probable

Probable Starters

PG Stephen Curry PPG 8.3 RPG 2.2 APG 4.4

SG Monta Ellis PPG 19.3 RPG 5.1 APG 5.0

SF Anthony Morrow PPG 11.2 RPG 3.6 APG 0.9

PF Vladimir Radmanovic PPG 4.9 RPG 3.6 BPG 0.1

C Mikki Moore PPG 3.5 RPG 2.8 BPG 0.5

Reserves
Corey Maggette
Anthony Randolph

Injuries
Andris Biedrins (groin) questionable
Devean George (knee) questionable
Ronny Turiaf (knee) questionable
Brandon Wright (shoulder) out
Kelenna Azubuike (leg) out
CJ Watson (swine flu) out
Speedy Claxton out
Raja Bell (wrist) out (he will dress so that they have the required 8 players but won't play)

Key Matchups

Kendrick Perkins vs Mikki Moore
As we saw from his time in Boston, Mikki isn't a great interior defender and so Perk (and anyone who drives to the basket) won't get much of a challenge from Mikki. Perk should have a very good game.

Ray Allen vs Monta Ellis
This would be the matchup where Golden State has the advantage. Ellis is very quick and it will be difficult for Ray to keep up with him. I can see Ray covering Morrow and Rondo on Ellis on the defensive end.

Game Notes
• Celtics split the season series 1-1 against Golden State in 2008-09
• Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 21.0 points per game last season
• In his one appearance against the C’s, Corey Maggette netted 38 points for the Warriors
• The Celtics are 4-6 against Golden State since the 2004-05 season
• The Celtics are leading the all-time series 194-127 with the Celtics 108-34 at home

Keys to the Game
Defense - The Celtics have said that they want to be the best defensive team in league history and yet they have allowed teams to shoot over 50% in their last 2 games. They need to get back to the team defense that we saw in the first 5 games and that will take a commitment from every player on the team.

Effort It seems as though the team has come into the past 2 games expecting to win without putting out the effort. They have been sluggish from start to end and just haven't had that killer instinct we saw early.

Rebound Hand in hand with effort goes rebounding. They did a good job on the boards against the Pacers but were badly out rebounded by the Hawks. Since much of rebounding is effort, the Celtics need to put out the effort on the boards in every game. Allowing the other team too many rebounds leads to too many second chance baskets.

Move the Ball When the ball is moving and the Celtics are racking up assists on baskets, the offense is working like a well oiled machine. When they try to do too much individually, then the offense becomes disjointed and they struggle to score.

Don't Over Rely on the 3 When the 3's are falling, the Celtics offense is devastating but that can lead them to over rely on the outside shot because when the shots aren't falling, they keep taking them and the offense suffers. They can take the 3 when it is open and a good shot, but their first option should be to go to the basket and either draw the foul or get the hoop.

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