Post by FLCeltsFan on Oct 4, 2018 20:52:03 GMT -5
at 
Boston Celtics (1-2) at Cleveland Cavaliers (1-0)
Saturday, October 6
7:30 PM ET
Preseason Game [HASH]4
TV: NBA-TV, FSO, NBCSB
Quicken Loans Arena
Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
vs 
Terry Rozier vs George Hill
Shooting Guard
vs 
Jaylen Brown vs Rodney Hood
Small Forward
vs 
Marcus Morris vs Cedi Osman
Power Forward
vs 
Jayson Tatum vs Kevin Love
Center
vs 
Al Horford vs Tristan Thompson
BWA (Bench with Attitude)
PJ Dozier
Marcus Georges-Hunt
Nick King
Walt Lemon Jr
Semi Ojeleye
Jeff Roberson
Terry Rozier
Daniel Theis
Brad Wanamaker
Robert Williams
Guerschon Yabusele
Injuries
Jabari Bird (not with team) out
Kyrie Irving (ribs) out
Gordon Hayward (back) out
Head Coach
Brad Stevens
Cavs Reserves
Jordan Clarkson
Bonzie Colson
Sam Dekker
Channing Frye
John Holland
Kyle Korver
Larry Nance, Jr
David Nwaba
Billy Preston
Levi Randolph
Collin Sexton
Kobi Simmons
Isaiah Taylor
Ante Zizic
Injuries
JR Smith (hip) day to day
Head Coach
Tyronn Lue
Game Notes
The Celtics travel to Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers for their 4th and final game of the preseason. The Cavaliers will play just their second preseason game, having won their first game against the Celtics on Tuesday. The Celtics will have the final 10 days of the preseason off to work on the weaknesses they saw in their 4 preseason games.
Kyrie Irving, after announcing that he plans to re-sign with the Celtics next summer, will not travel with the team for this game due to sore ribs from hard practices this week. Gordon Hayward also will not travel to Cleveland due to a sore lower back. Neither player practiced on Thursday. I'm going to guess that Rozier starts for Kyrie once again and Marcus Morris starts for Hayward.
In the first game, the Cavs started George Hill, Rodney Hood, Cedi Osman, Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson. Since they were successful in the first game I'm guessing that this same group starts again. However, it's the preseason and either team may just start the end of the bench to give them playing time and to protect their starters.
Key Matchups
vs Jayson Tatum vs Kevin Love
Jayson Tatum has struggled a bit in the preseason so far and hopefully he can get on track in this last preseason game. Kevin Love is a force on offense but not so much on defense and so hopefully Tatum can get going on both ends of the court.
vs Terry Rozier vs George Hill
With Kyrie out, Rozier should get the start again. He will be matched up with George Hill and possibly their rookie, Collin Sexton. Rozier's dad will be in the stands to watch his son play basketball in person for the first time. Terry will want to put on a good showing for him.
Keys to the Game
Chemistry - Jaylen Brown said that the team needs to build chemistry and rhythm. He also mentioned that they have several players who do the same things and nobody wants to step on the others' toes. They need to figure out their roles and work to make those roles mesh.
Run the Offense - This goes along with building chemistry. They need to run the offense and not just run down and toss up 3 pointers. They need to move the ball and find the open man. They need to avoid playing hero ball and play team ball. Their 3 point shooting has been atrocious so far and they need to figure out how to either hit those shots or stop taking them.
Defense - The Celtics have shown flashes of playing good defense but we haven't yet seen that lock down team defense that kept the Celtics at the top of the league on defense all last season. They need to work harder on team and individual defense. Their defense last season is what made this team so good. That has to be a priority in these last days before the season.
Rebounds - The Celtics were out-rebounded in games 1 and 3 and lost and they won the rebounding battle and the game in the second game. Rebounding takes work and effort and the Celtics need to put out that effort and beat the Cavs to rebounds on both ends of the court if they hope to win this game.
NO INJURIES - This pretty much is obvious. After having to play through losing several key players last season, the Celtics need to stay healthy. This is just the preseason and we want all of our players to be healthy going into the regular season. Play hard and play good, but don't get hurt!!
