Warriors (34-14) at Celtics (30-18) GAme #49 1/26/19

[FLCeltsFan]

at
Golden State Warriors (34-14) at Boston Celtics (30-18)
Saturday, January 26, 2019
8:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game [HASH]49, Home Game [HASH]25
TV: ABC
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, 95.7 The Game
TD Garden



Probable Starters

PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Marcus Smart
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Marcus Morris
C: Al Horford

Celtics Reserves
Daniel Theis
Guerschon Yabusele
Semi Ojeleye
Gordon Hayward
Brad Wanamaker
Robert Williams
Jaylen Brown
Terry Rozier
Aron Baynes

Injuries
Jabari Bird (personal) out

Two Way Players
P. J. Dozier
RJ Hunter

Head Coach
Brad Stevens




Probable Starters



PG: Stephen Curry
SG: Klay Thompson
SF: Kevin Durant
PF: Draymond Green
C: DeMarcus Cousins

Warriors Reserves
Jordan Bell
Quinn Cook
Jacob Evans III
Andre Iguodala
Shaun Livingston
Kevon Looney
Alfonzo McKinnie

Injuries
Damian Jones (pectoral) out
Jonas Jerebko (personal) out

Two Way Players
Marcus Derrickson
Damion Lee

Head Coach
Steve Kerr

Game Notes
The Celtics host the Golden State Warriors for the first of 2 games this season. The series between these two teams was tied 1-1 last season with each team winning on their home court. Of all the teams in the league, the Celtics have done the best vs the Warriors.

The Celtics are playing in the 3rd game of a 5 game home stand. The Warriors are playing in the 4th game of a 5 game road trip. The Celtics have a 10 game home win streak going while the Warriors have a 9 game win streak overall and have won 10 of their last 11 games and 11 of their last 12 road games including their last 8 on the road.

The Celtics are 5th in the East and remain 5 games behind first place Milwaukee and 1.5 games behind 4th place Philadelphia. They are 19-5 at home and 9-8 vs Western Conference teams. They are looking for their 6th straight win. The Warriors are 1st in the West and a league best 16-8 on the road. They are 13-4 vs Eastern Conference teams.

Both teams are mostly healthy. The Celtics have only Jabari Bird (personal) on the injured list. Kyrie Irving (flu) and Al Horford (rest), who missed Wednesday's game both practiced on Friday and should be good to go for this one. The Warriors will miss Damian Jones (pectoral). The Celtics will dodge the Jonas Jerebko revenge game as he will be with his wife, who just had a baby. Gordon Hayward's wife just had a baby as well but since they are home, he is expected to play.

Key Matchups
vs
Kyrie Irving vs Stephen Curry
Both players are very tough to stop and can put up a lot of points in a hurry. Kyrie is just returning from a bout with the flu and hopefully will be 100% for this one because the Celtics will need a healthy and rested Kyrie. Curry, who is averaging 29.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.2steals, is tough to guard, and hopefully Kyrie can slow him down because Marcus Smart will have his hands full with Klay Thompson.

vs
Jayson Tatum vs Kevin Durant
Tatum will be tasked with trying to slow down former MVP Kevin Durant. Durant is averaging 27.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.2 blocks. He is shooting 51.9% from the field and is dangerous both inside and out. Tatum will have his work cut out for him and will need every bit of maturity and defense that he can muster.

Honorable Mention
Marcus Smart vs Klay Thompson
Thompson is averaging 21.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.2 steals. Thompson has had some monster games and is capable of taking over a game and putting up points in bunches. Marcus will need to keep him from having a big game in this one.

Keys to the Game
Defense - The Warriors can put up points quickly and in bunches. They are averaging a league leading 118.9 points per game. It will be important for the Celtics to bring defensive intensity into this game, especially to shut down the Warriors' fast breaks as they can get up the floor very quickly and are 3rd in the league with 18.9 fast break points per game. The Celtics must especially guard the perimeter as the Warriors are very dangerous from beyond the arc shooting 39% from beyond the arc as a team. The Celtics hope of winning this game is to play lock down defense.

Rebound - The Celtics need to crash the boards to keep the Warriors from igniting their fast breaks. The Celtics also need to rebound to give themselves second chance points and limit the second chance points for the Warriors. This is one area that the Celtics have a slight advantage over the Warriors. The Celtics are averaging 44.9 rebounds per game while the Warriors are averaging 46.6 rebounds per game. The Celtics have to put out extra effort on the boards if they want to win this game.

Take Care of the Ball - The Warriors can be very disruptive by getting into the passing lanes, averaging 7.4 steals per game. The Celtics need to stay focused and not give the Warriors any easy opportunities to steal the ball or to get out on the break. If the Celtics get sloppy with the ball, the Warriors will make them pay.

Be Aggressive - The Celtics need to come out focused and play hard from start to finish. The Celtics have to be the more aggressive team throughout the game. They must be aggressive on defense, on the boards, in chasing down loose balls, and in taking the ball to the hoop and not settling for jumpers. They will need energy and extra effort from every player on the team. The Warriors play all out for every game and the Celtics will need to match their intensity in this one.

Play Celtics Ball - The Celtics must play as a team and trust each other and have each others' backs. They have to move the ball and find the open man. They have to move without the ball to give themselves the best shot possible. They have to play team defense and play with energy and heart.

Bench Play- Both of these teams are relatively deep. The Celtics bench is averaging 55.6 points and 27.8 rebounds per game. The Warriors bench is averaging 52.9 points and 24.7 rebounds per game. The Celtics reserves need to play well and not give the Warriors an advantage when the starters are getting a rest.

X-Factors
Rested Team
The Celtics have had 2 days off since they last played on Wednesday. They are 8-2 when they have at least 2 days off between games. The Warriors had Friday off, after playing on Thursday, but they also had travel between games while the Celtics have been home, between the games, which should help them to be rested for this game.

Home Game
The Celtics have played well at home and they need to continue their strong play at the Garden in this game. The Garden crowd can be loud and make it hard for opposing teams to play well in the building. If ever the Celtics needed the fans to be loud and give them a boost, it is in this game.

[afceltic]

Down by 6 going into the 4th quarter because we only scored 3 points in the 5:23 of the 3rd quarter mainly because Marcus !!!GREENIAC!!! shot us out of that quarter by taking terrible shots with 20 seconds on the clock.

Tatum also tried to do too much after Kyrie went out because he started out hot in the half. Our passing was terrible in the last half of the quarter.

[afceltic]

Well this loss os on Marcus !!!GREENIAC!!! shooting too much and missing the rebound that would have given us a chance to tie or win the game.

Brad needs to get over his fixation with playing that guy in the final 5 minutes.

[runrondo]

Fun game. I think this really shows that we need Hayward to get better. Tatum, Horford, and Kyrie really showed up but Hayward should be one of those guys too and he's not there at the moment. I'm hoping he gets there, but even without him we can compete with the best when we're focused so that's some sort of silver lining.

[mev17]

Tough loss, we had our chances. Cardinal sin not rebounding the missed free throw.

Overall, fun game and solid performance, but we continue to be good but not great - still hit long dry-spells like the later part of the third quarter.

[runrondo]

Looking back at it now again - it's crazy that we have Hayward, Brown, and Rozier coming off the bench and our 2nd unit still gets out-scored (and out-played) by the Warriors weaker bench. Can't just force it to Kyrie when we need a bucket and expect it to work against a team like the Warriors all the time. This is where Hayward would be nice to have in form as a 2nd option.

[jmost]

I think runrondo hit the nail on the head. We need Hayward to be the guy we signed. Until then we are one star short of having what we need.

Smart continues to drive me nuts. I know he's been shooting much better over the last month or so, but it's not just whether the ball goes in or not that concerns me. His shot selection is horrendous. And it's both what kind of shots he takes and when he takes them. There was a point in the second quarter (I think) last night where GS was making a run and had extended their lead to 7 (or so) and Smart decides to take a turnaround, fallaway jump shot from 18 feet out, near the top of the circle. And he did it with a ton of time left on the clock. Terrible decision, even though he made it. When he takes a shot like that he's basically saying that he doesn't think the team can find a higher percentage shot in the next 15 seconds, and that's just ridiculous.

Still, good game by the guys. They hung in, and other than allowing the offensive rebound on the missed FT, had a chance to win at the end. That's twice though that they made that particular error so they have to clean that up.

[Roadrunner]

Gallant effort. Morris, and Smart have seemed to hit a wall. I do not think Hayward is the liability the internet says. A 1 or 2 possession game, which was tied with a 1+ to go.

[jmost]

I don't think he's a liability, but he's far from the asset he was/could be. We've seen a few games where you can see the post-injury potential in him, but there hasn't been any consistency yet. We have to remember thought that he's still early in his recovery.

I was looking at the standings and at this point, unless we go on an amazing run, the Bucks seem out of reach. We can still catch everyone else though if it all comes together.