Celtics (36-21) at Pistons (21-38) 3/2 « Thread Started on Mar 1, 2010, 2:38pm »
at Boston Celtics (36-21) at Detroit Pistons (21-38) Tuesday, March 2 7:30 PM ET Game #58, Road Game #31 TV: FSD, CSN-NE, NBA LP 751-752 Palace of Auburn Hills
Probable Starting Matchups Point Guard Rajon Rondo vs Rodney Stuckey
Shooting Guard Ray Allen vs Rip Hamilton
Small Forward Paul Pierce vs Tayshaun Prince
Power Forward Kevin Garnett vs Jonas Jerebko
Center Rasheed Wallace vs Ben Wallace
Reserves Tony Allen Glen Davis Marquis Daniels Brian Scalabrine Marcus Landry Shelden Williams Nate Robinson
Injuries: Kendrick Perkins (flu) out
Reserves Austin Daye Jason Maxiell Chucky Atkins Charlie Villanueva DaJuan Summers Will Bynum Ben Gordon
Injuries Kwame Brown (flu) questionable Chris Wilcox (back) questionable
Team Connections Richard Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and Ray Allen are former UConn Huskies Tayshaun Prince and Rajon Rondo are former Kentucky Wildcats Rasheed Wallace played for the Pistons from 2003-09 and won an NBA championship with the Pistons in 2004 Pistons Head Coach John Keuster was an assistant coach with the Celtics from 1995-97. Chucky Atkins played in 24 games for the Celtics in the 2003-04 season Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace were teammates in Detroit from 2004-06
Key Matchups vs Rajon Rondo vs Rodney Stuckey The Pistons have had a lot of problems and questions but one thing is for sure, they see Rodney Stuckey as their point guard of the future. We have seen in many games that as Rondo goes, so go the Celtics. The Celtics need Rondo to be aggressive and to set the tempo the team.
vs Ray Allen vs Rip Hamilton Hamilton is one of the few Pistons who remains from the old days. There have been some good battles between these two shooting guards, both of whom are very good at running off screens. Rip is the reason that Ray began wearing the shooting sleeve because 2 years ago in the playoffs, Rip was digging Ray's arm up with his long fingernails. Let's hope that Ray's shooting stays hot in this game.
Honorable Mention Paul Pierce vs Tayshaun Prince These two players have also had some good battles over the years. Pierce is expected to return from his thumb injury and even when healthy, Prince has bothered him in the past because of his length.
Rasheed Wallace vs Ben Wallace With Perk out with the flu, these two former teammates will be matched up against each other at center. The Celtics have been talking about moving Sheed more into the post and this is as good a chance as any to do it.
Game Notes The Pistons are currently leading the season series 1-0; Celtics won the season series 3-1 against Detroit in 2008-09 Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 15.5 points per game last season Rip Hamilton averaged 13.5 points per game against the C’s last season It marked the second straight year that the Celtics had won the season series and the first time that it had done so since the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons The Celtics are leading the all-time series 221-122 with the Celtics 106-38 at home
After losing to the lowly Nets at home, the Celtics have a lot to prove. The adjectives that they used to describe their performance in that game ranged from disappointed to disgusted. If losing to a 5 win team and being booed by your home team isn't a wake up call for this team, I don't know what is.
Detroit has had their own struggles this season and are 4-6 in their last 10 games while the Celtics aren't much better with 5-5 in their last 10. The Celtics are 20-10 on the road while the Pistons are 14-16 at home. This is the 2nd of 3 games between these old foes with the Pistons winning their first meeting in Detroit 92-86.
Keys to the Game Defense Play 48 minutes Run the Offense Attack the Basket Rebound
X-Factor Focus - especially on the defensive end. If the Celtics expect to come anywhere near the Finals this season they need to get their focus back on team ball and especially on team defense. The question is, are they capable of doing it.
Joined: Nov 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 4,686 Karma: 78
Re: Celtics (36-21) at Pistons (21-38) 3/2 « Reply #1 on Mar 1, 2010, 3:27pm »
Perkins latest Celtic sidelined by illness
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By Chris Forsberg ESPNBoston.com Archive
WALTHAM, Mass. -- Forward Paul Pierce said he expects to return to action Tuesday against the Detroit Pistons, but the Boston Celtics will likely be without center Kendrick Perkins, who is sick and is not expected to travel with the team.
Pierce has missed the last three games with a sprained right thumb.
"I feel great," said Pierce, who wore tape over his right thumb and wrist at Monday's practice. "I had a chance to get out here and it really felt good getting up and down the court. I wanted to make I could catch, dribble, and shoot without pain. It felt great."
Pierce originally sprained his right thumb in the first half of a win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 18. He played two more games before finally retreating to the sideline to allow the injury to heal. He said it was difficult watching his team struggle during losses to the Cavaliers and Nets last week, and joked that he might have jinxed them.
"I started thinking maybe I shouldn't have shown up," said Pierce. "I didn't show up for New York and we won, maybe it was something I did. But there's no excuses. We should have taken care of business."
Pierce acknowledged that, had he played last week, the thumb injury could have easily been aggravated. He's confident after Monday's practice that he's ready to go without limitations.
"If I played a couple games ago and it got hit, it would have hurt really bad," said Pierce. "But I'm at the point now where, if I get hit, it's not going to bother me. I've been getting extra treatment, resting, it's been good."
Perkins battled the sniffles during Saturday's loss to the New Jersey Nets, but his condition has clearly worsened since then. Celtics coach Doc Rivers admitted before that game that Kevin Garnett and Glen Davis were also not feeling 100 percent, while Marquis Daniels, Pierce, and Nate Robinson have all battled flu-like symptoms over the past week.
Rivers indicated that, if Perkins felt better Tuesday morning, he could attempt to join the team in time for the game, but suggested that was unlikely. Rasheed Wallace is expected to get the start in place of Perkins.
"So many guys are not feeling well, we can't afford to have a [sick] guy around anybody else, let it start up again," said Rivers. "We're taking a different measure, we're keeping all unhealthy people away from each other. Even those with injuries, just stay away."
Davis said the rest of the team's big men would be ready to step up in Perkins' absence.
"We got Rasheed, me, [Shelden Williams], [Brian Scalabrine], we can all play the 4," said Davis. "We're just worried about getting Perk back because he's a big part of this team."
Joined: Aug 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 3,493 Location: The Vin Baker Memorial Karma: 90
Re: Celtics (36-21) at Pistons (21-38) 3/2 « Reply #2 on Mar 1, 2010, 8:27pm »
Wow, another game in Dreary Detroit for our depressed Celtics. I'll call Baby Daughter Q who is a freshman psychology student to examine the heads of our very sick little Celtics who are so bored and mustn't be bothered with executing details pertinent to being competent NBA players.
Joined: Apr 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 113 Location: Amherst, MA Karma: 3
Re: Celtics (36-21) at Pistons (21-38) 3/2 « Reply #3 on Mar 3, 2010, 12:13am »
Let's hear it for the Celtics bench for this one, particularly Nate Robinson, and I think Wallace gave it a little bit more effort going against his old team. Nice win on the road. The Pistons were on a 3 game losing streak on the road coming home, and they probably wanted this one pretty bad. But thankfully the Celtics finally wanted to win one too - mind over boredom.
Joined: Nov 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 4,686 Karma: 78
Re: Celtics (36-21) at Pistons (21-38) 3/2 « Reply #5 on Mar 3, 2010, 1:03am »
What I really liked today was that Doc gave playing time to Shelden and Shelden showed that he has more worth than Scalabrine. Nate was good today but that was really why we traded for him in the first place. Hes an energy burst off the bench so that Rondo can rest.
Some great points from today's game
1. Rondo made every crucial free throw down the stretch to ensure our lead was intact.
2. Shelden showed way more hustle than Scalabrine usually shows. Heres to hoping that Doc plays him more.
3. We only turned it over 12 times which is good.
Now for the negative points :
1. We once again gave up 100 points..Not great considering this is our fifth straight game giving up 100 and over points. We need to get it on defensively as well as offensively.
2. With or without Perkins, we're still getting outrebounded. We can't afford to give up 16 offensive rebounds because too many second chance opportunities only dig ourselves deeper holes.
Overall, a nice comeback from our humiliating loss. But we got the Bobcats next...a tough game..much tougher than today's one. I hope the rest that the starters got thanks to good bench performance today, translates to more effort in tomorrow's game.
Joined: Oct 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 320 Karma: 14
Re: Celtics (36-21) at Pistons (21-38) 3/2 « Reply #6 on Mar 3, 2010, 3:39pm »
We are just making everyone else look better because our defense and rebounding are non existent. We as a team don't have any legs left. Everyone else is quicker and jumping higher. It certainly looks to me we have outlived the usefulness of the Big 3.
A week from Sunday will tell whether we make it to the ECF's or not. If we lose to Cleveland get the golf clubs ready early. We have some teams coming up we can sharpen our skills on before that.
Joined: Apr 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 113 Location: Amherst, MA Karma: 3
Re: Celtics (36-21) at Pistons (21-38) 3/2 « Reply #7 on Mar 3, 2010, 6:09pm »
The legs going is what I notice most when I watched the Cavs game from the sidelines . . . maybe the whole team should do what Carmelo Anthony is doing and take IVs to get replenished.
Joined: Nov 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 4,686 Karma: 78
Re: Celtics (36-21) at Pistons (21-38) 3/2 « Reply #8 on Mar 3, 2010, 10:23pm »
Yeah we're constantly getting outrebounded and unless we're shooting a high percentage, we make it harder on ourselves to win games because we don't really give ourselves much second shot opportunities. Watching the Bobcats game today, the commentators mentioned that we are probably the worst offensive rebounding team in the league.
Joined: Nov 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 4,686 Karma: 78
Re: Celtics (36-21) at Pistons (21-38) 3/2 « Reply #9 on Mar 4, 2010, 12:51am »
On a side note, Bill as in Bill Walker the guy we traded to the Knicks? Anyone still remember him? Haha well he scored 22 points tonight on 9 of 13 shooting. Good for him, showing that he still has some value if given the chance off the bench.
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