Celtics Visit Cavaliers to Jump-start 2009-2010 NBA Season
by Greg Payne on Oct 27, 2009 9:25 PM EDT
in Boston Celtics Games
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PrintBoston Celtics at Cleveland Cavaliers, Oct 27, 2009 7:30 PM EDT
Boston Celtics (0-0) at Cleveland Cavaliers (0-0)
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
7:30pm
TV: TNT; Radio: 850 AM WEEI
Venue: Quicken Loans Arena
At long last, the Boston Celtics kick off the 2009-2010 NBA season at the Quicken Loans Arena tonight when they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7:30pm.
The Celtics take the floor for their first game of the regular season after compiling a 6-2 record during the preseason, while the Cavaliers are coming off a preseason that saw them go 4-4, including a 96-82 loss to the Celtics last Wednesday. The Celtics averaged a respectable 97.9 points per game over the eight-game preseason span, but more importantly, held opponents to just 90.1 points per game over that same stretch. With defense being the key for the green this season, hopefully that number resonates from game one against Cleveland tonight.
There appears to be some bad blood brewing between these two Eastern Conference juggernauts, as evidenced by Shelden Williams' shove of Mo Williams at the tail end of the first half last Wednesday. With that in mind, it's safe to expect an extremely hard fought and competitive game tonight, as both teams are looking to send a message to the other and start their respective seasons off on the right foot.
Playing in Cleveland doesn't necessarily bode well for Boston, as over the past two seasons in seven contests, the Celtics have amassed an 0-7 record in the Q, including the playoffs. Hopefully that negative trend can change course tonight.
Boston took something of a hit last night, as news broke that Glen Davis suffered a thumb injury on Sunday and will be out for the at least six weeks. With Brian Scalabrine also unavailable tonight due to a sprained ankle, expect Shelden Williams to see extended minutes with the second unit.
Projected Starters:
Celtics: Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins
Cavaliers: Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, LeBron James, Anderson Varejao, Shaquille O'Neal
Health Check: For the Celtics, forward Bill Walker (knee), guard Tony Allen (ankle), forward Brian Scalabrine (ankle) and forward Glen Davis (hand) are out.
For the Cavs, forward Leon Powe (knee surgery) is out and guard Delonte West (personal issues) is questionable.
Keep It In Mind: The Celtics have not won a game in Cleveland since December 18, 2004
Who's Hot: For the Celtics, Kevin Garnett averaged 12.6 points per game in the six preseason games he played in.
Who's Not: For the Cavaliers, Jamario Moon scored just two points in 21 minutes against the Celtics last Wednesday.
Key Matchup: Paul Pierce vs. LeBron James
Honorable Mention: Kendrick Perkins vs. Shaquille O'Neal and Kevin Garnett vs. Anderson Varejao
Skinny: Defense will be extremely important for the Celtics tonight in front of Cleveland's home crowd. They need to try and limit Cleveland's explosive plays (the fast breaks, LeBron's dunks and full court blocks from behind) early to try and take the crowd out of the game.
The C's will also need to be on top of their rotations on defense, as LeBron now has a big man in Shaq who is capable of finishing in the paint. When LeBron drives and the help defense comes, that third Celtics defender will need to be alert and rotate over to Shaq quickly to prevent LeBron from feeding him an easy dump off pass.
Three other important keys for the Celtics will be aiming for a wash with the Pierce-James matchup, exploiting Garnett on Varejao and utilizing their superior bench. If the Celtics get steady production from Rasheed Wallace and co., they stand a great chance of walking out of Cleveland with a win.
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There is a game tonight?
Who knew?
When Perk was asked what he thought of Howard winning the gold medal this summer, he responded: "What’s his impression of me after I won a ring?"
Breakout year?
When we were all thinking Big Baby was going to have a breakout year this is not what we were talking about.
Sheed is looking even more critical now. He has the backs of Perk and KG and Sheldon can take some minutes if need be. I wonder if at midseason they can find a way to trade TA and pick up another big man or fill the position with say a Swift, Fazekas, Sweetney, or a player to be named later
I just hope Ubuntu is not taking a hit with the Rondo issue and the impact of losing Davis
Tonight’s game should be a good measuring stick
It will be interesting to see how well SW jells w/the second unit. He’s been put in a demanding position considering Baby’s injury, let alone the loss of Powe. Let’s hope it’s all Ubuntu indeed.
BTW: This is my first post here and wanted to share how refreshing this board has been to read. Intelligent discussion instead of put downs and name-calling. A breath of fresh air.
Go C’s
"tim duncan isn't walking through that door"
by greg's ostertag on Oct 27, 2009 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions
Welcome
Sheed is all we really need – for now. Between KG, Perk and him nobody needs to play 40+ minutes at the front, Baby or no.
Doc did have a “good problem” with Davis trying to provide minutes for everyone. Guess it just got simpler lol
But he does not have all the chess pieces he would like
i know that it is game one...but it sure would be nice to finally
win in cleveland….will be a very tall order
by celticinorlando on Oct 27, 2009 4:46 PM EDT reply actions
Sheldon
seems to have a nice mid range jump shot, so we won’t miss that from Baby, but rebounding, yes we will miss that.
Baby was a very poor rebounder for a Big the last two years (Shelden’s rebounding numbers are much better and comprable to Powe’s). We will miss Glenn’s scoring and energy on the bench as well as his mass against Shaq.
by GJPBoston on Oct 27, 2009 7:40 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
im looking at big picture
who really cares if we win this game? and who cares if we don’t have davis for the first six weeks? its a long season, i want the push to come in the middle of the season and i want everyone strong for the playoffs.
Let's get it on!
All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino
hey guys
lets all remember that this bad start means nothing. it wouldnt mean anything even if we get blown out. its game one, KG isn’t really back yet, davis just got injured. we’ll be fine.
Rough start
But there slowly coming back into it
"My features are that of a god, its not a facade these rappers wanna be NaS"- Nasir Jones QB's Finest
Founder and only member of the Kristin Kreuk Appreciation Society, and future Husband
Still miss em: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvvgVn0gg1E
yup
down by nine now.
sheed looks good i think
Good luck to the Celtics
and this is coming from a life long Laker fan. Plz don’t think i’m a troll because i’m not. I respect the history between both our team and above all I REALLY WANT TO SEE THE CAVS GET ABSOLUTELY HAMMERED!!!
I don’t think I can handle another year of the Lebron media love fest/man crush that will take place on ESPN and the other networks.
Shelden Williams = HANDS OF STONE
Can I hear again how we wouldn’t miss BBD? Of course we’re still a great team and can win, but SW is a very big negative on offense.
and now, some commentary
Was it just me? Or did the refs actually start to call LBJ fairly in the second half? The first half he got some calls that were typical of the last few years but in the second they actually seemed to actually call him fairly! He was really jawing it up with them and it seemed to me that at least a couple of refs got annoyed by that.
On the other hand, he should have been called for a technical in the 4th period on the play where he was called for a carry and then promptly threw a tantrum and the ball across the court. They let him get away with that. If that was ’Sheed …
The Celtics still looked a little cold shooting in the mid-range. The Celtics wasted several wide-open shots off well run plays that could have really opened up the lead and they also missed some free throws.
Overall I was really pleased with the defensive tone of the game. Perk was awesome in the paint, denying Shaq any dunks and forcing him to be a shooter. And everybody else did their job to marginalize LBJ – once again he was forced to be the only effective Cav because nobody else on Cleveland could do anything consistently against the C’s defense. And Daniels and Pierce both did just enough to slow him down, resulting in a sub-90 pt output by the Cavs – in their home arena!.
Daniels and Sheed both had great games and really showed how well they fit with this team.
Fantastic way to start the season.
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