Celtics (10-2) at Grizzlies (3-9) Game #13 11/19/23

[FLCeltsFan]

at
Memphis Grizzlies (18-30) at Boston Celtics (37-12)
Sunday, February 4, 2024
6:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game [HASH]50, Home Game [HASH]26
TV: NBCSB, BSSE-MEM, NBA-LP
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, ESPN 92.9 FM
TD Garden


Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
vs
Jrue Holiday vs Jacob Gilyard

Shooting Guard
vs
Derrick White vs John Konchar

Small Forward
vs
Jaylen Brown vs Luke Kennard

Power Forward
vs
Jayson Tatum vs Santi Aldama

Center
vs
Kristaps Porzingis vs Trey Jemison

Celtics Reserves
Delano Banton
Oshae Brissett
Sam Hauser
Al Horford
Luke Kornet
Svi Mykhailiuk
Payton Pritchard
Lamar Stevens
Jordan Walsh

2 Way Players
JD Davison
Drew Peterson
Neemias Queta

Injuries/Out
Jaylen Brown (back) questionable
Luke Kornet (hamstring) probable

Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla

Grizzlies Reserves
Tosan Evbuomwan (10 day)
David Roddy
Matthew Hurt (10 day)
GG Jackson II (2 way)
Derrick Rose

2 Way Players
Jacob Gilyard
GG Jackson II
Vince Williams, Jr

Injuries/Out
Brandon Clarke (Achilles) out
Jake LaRavia (ankle) out
Ja Morant (shoulder) out
Xavier Tillman, Sr (knee) doubtful
Marcus Smart (finger) out
Jaren Jackson, Jr (hip) out
Desmond Bane (ankle) out
John Konchar (calf) questionable
Victor Oladipo (knee) out
Vince Williams, Jr (wrist) questionable
Ziaire Williams (hand) out

Head Coach
Taylor Jenkins

Game Notes
The Celtics host the Memphis Grizzlies as they continue their 7 game home stand. This is the second and final game between these two teams this season. The Celtics won the first game 102-100 in Memphis on November 19. The Celtics won the series 2-0 last season. They are 34-29 overall all time against the Grizzlies and 16-9 in games played in Boston.

The Celtics remain 1st in the East, in spite of losing 2 of the 4 games so far of the home stand. They are 4 games ahead of 2nd place Milwaukee, 5.5 games ahead of 3rd place New York and 4th place Cleveland and 6.5 games ahead of 5th place Philadelphia. The Celtics are 22-3 at home and 7-3 in their last 10 games. They are 12-6 against Western Conference teams and they are coming off a loss in their last game.

The Grizzlies are 13th in the West, 10 games behind 6th place Phoenix and a guaranteed spot in the playoffs. They are5.5 games behind 10th place Utah and 11th place Houston and a play-in spot. They are 5 games behind 12th place Golden State. They are 3 games ahead of 14th place Portland and 8 games ahead of 15th place San Antonio. They are 13-13 on the road, which is better than their 5-18 home record. They are 4-6 in their last 10 games and 6-8 against Eastern Conference teams. They have lost their last 4 games.

The Celtics are playing in the 5th game of a 7 game home stand. They are 2-2 so far on the home stand losing to the Lakers and Clippers, and beating the Pacers and Pelicans. They will close out the home stand with games against Atlanta and Washington. They will then play one game at Miami before a back to back home and home set against the Nets.

The Grizzlies just finished a 3 game home stand in which they lost all 3 games. This is their 3rd game in 4 days. Next they go to New York for a game on Tuesday before one game a home and home series against Chicago. Then they have a 5 game home stand where they will host New Orleans, Houston, Milwaukee, the Clippers and Brooklyn.

Marcus Smart spent 9 years with the Celtics and became the heart and soul of the team. He was included in the trade that brought Kristaps Porzingis to Boston, which broke my heart and that of many other Celtics fans. It was thought that he was going to a contender in the West, but there have been injuries and setbacks for the Grizzlies right from the start. Marcus himself has only played in 20 games for them. It is sad that he will not be playing in this game but hopefully the Celtics crowd will give him a warm welcome anyway.

It would be an understatement to say that the Grizzlies are short handed. Two players are questionable, one is doubtful and 8 are out. They have 3 players on 10 day contracts and are playing their 2-way players. On Thursday, they traded Steven Adams, who is out for the season, to Houston for Victor Oladipo and 3 second round picks. Oladipo is out with and injury and hasn't played yet this season.

The Celtics report that Jaylen Brown is questionable with lower back tightness. He struggled in Thursday's game against the Lakers, finishing with just 8 points so it's possible that it was bothering him then. His status will be a game time decision. If Brown can't play, I expect Sam Hauser to get the start in his place. Luke Kornet, who has missed the last 3 games with a hamstring injury, is listed as probable and is expected to return for this game.

Key Matchups
I would say in this game that the key matchup is the Celtics against themselves. After watching them sleep walk through a game against the short handed Lakers on Thursday night, you would have to worry about whether the Celtics will show up against this even more shorthanded Grizzlies team. With all of the key players for the Grizzlies out, there really aren't individual key matchups but the question remains whether the Celtics will come to play in this one or try to coast through it as they did against the Lakers.

Keys to the Game
Defense - Defense is always a key to winning. The Celtics have slipped to 4th with a defensive rating of 111.0. The Grizzlies are 10th with a defensive rating of 113.0. The Grizzlies are 30th in scoring with 107.2 points per game. The Celtics are 1st in 3 point attempts with 42.7 and 5th in 3 point percentage at 37.5%. The Grizzlies are 5th with 39.3 three point attempts per game but just 28th in 3 point percentage at 34.4%. The Celtics weren't all that interested in playing defense against the Lakers, allowing them to shoot 52.8% on 3's and allowing Austin Reeves to shoot 70% from beyond the arc. The Celtics must play lock down defense for 48 minutes against the Grizzlies.

Rebound - The Celtics can't score if they don't have the ball and to get the ball, they have to grab rebounds. The Celtics are 1st in the league, grabbing 47.3 rebounds per game while the Grizzlies are 23rd, with 42.1 rebounds per game. Much of rebounding is effort and hustle and the Celtics need to put out more effort than the Grizzlies in order to beat them to rebounds.

Effort and Energy and Focus - The Celtics had none of those things against the Lakers on Thursday. They were a step slow the entire game, allowing the Lakers to pretty much do whatever they wanted to on the offensive end and then turning the ball over 15 times while shooting just 42.3% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc. They have to come out with energy and focus from the start and keep it up until the final buzzer.

Don't Underestimate - The Grizzlies have 8 players out and 2 more questionable and 1 doubtful. They are starting players on 10 day contracts and 2 way players. It would be easy for the Celtics to come in expecting an easy win and thinking they can win without giving any effort. They found out on Thursday that even role players and 2 way players will beat you if they play with effort and energy and you don't. The Celtics have to start strong and play hard throughout the game. They can't expect to win, even against a depleted team with a losing record, if they don't play hard and give it their all.

X-Factors
Home Game - The Celtics are home for their 5rd straight game. The Celtics started the season 20-0 but have lost 3 of their last 5 home games. They need to get motivation from the crowd and play their best to protect home court. The Grizzlies have a better record on the road than they do at home so the Celtics can't just expect to win without effort. The Grizzlies have to overcome the distractions of playing on the road including travel fatigue, staying in hotels, playing in front of hostile fans and in an unfamiliar arena and the Celtics need to take advantage of that.

Officiating - Officiating is always an x-factor. Some officials call the game tight and call every little bit of contact. Others let them play and allow both teams to be physical. Some refs call it one sided for one team while others call it even. The Celtics have to concentrate on playing their game and not allow bad calls and no calls to take away from their focus on playing the right way.

[jmost]

Celtics took care of business. We beat the Memphis JV.

Memphis might wind up benefiting in this summer's draft from Ja being out all year, plus all the other injuries, but otherwise it's a lost season for them.

[freshnthehouse]

JMost, when you were growing up, did you get to make it to many games in person? Or was most of your Celtics consumption done via the radio?

[jmost]

fresh, I went to exactly 1 game as a kid, and the only thing I remember about it was a fan near us repeatedly yelling "You piece of Gah-bage" at the refs. My Dad was not a basketball fan. His thing was baseball and he did take me to Fenway often.

My grandfather gave me a transistor radio, and most of my early fandom was via listening to Johnny Most, high above courtside - as he used to say at the beginning of every broadcast. In those days he worked alone and I would listen to games after lights out with the radio under my pillow so only I could hear it. It hurts my voice to do it, but I can still do a pretty darn good Johnny Most impression!

Later on the Celtics started being carried by Channel 56 on UHF TV. The picture was mostly snow. I bet some of you guys don't even know what snow is in a TV picture. You had to work to be a fan back then!

[freshnthehouse]

Haha that was my next question, were you able to watch C's games on TV if you lived in the area? I wonder how many were aired each season? And do you recall if you could ever catch out of market games on TV? Like was their a NBC/CBS/whoever "game of the week" on tv in the 60s?

Being a C's fan in North Dakota in the 90s was also a chore. We lived in the country, so we had no cable tv or no internet. I lived for newspaper box scores and Sporting News magazine, because they always gave a one paragraph blurb for each team in the NBA. I also lived for those pre-season athlon sports annual magazines. I would go to my grandma's to watch the C's whenever they played the Bulls (the C's were so irrelevant in the mid 90s that they hardly never got a TBS/TNT game). I do remember catching The C's upset the Bulls on Halloween night in 1997, which was Pitino's first year in charge. I thought those teams were going places lol.

[jmost]

I really have no memory of NBA regular season games being carried by the big networks. The only thing I really remember is that NBA Finals games against the Lakers were played and aired at 11 PM Eastern time. I'd go to bed for a few hours and have my father wake me up so I could watch. Sometimes he wasn't successful in waking me up though and I'd miss games. I must have been 8 or 9.

During the Bird era I lived in an area with no access to cable. I could get away games on broadcast TV but the Celtics home games were only on cable, unless it was a network game. So I missed a lot of times when those great Celtic teams had the Garden rocking.