Celtics host Jazz in a battle of the 0-4 teams

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Utah Jazz (0-4) at Boston Celtics (0-4)
November 6, 2013
7:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #5, Home Game #2
TV: CSNNE, ROOT Sports, NBA LP 757(DTV)
Radio: Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub, WBZ, KZNS
TD Garden
Referees: James Capers, Derek Richardson, Kevin Scott

Game Thread l Chat
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The Celtics and Jazz clash in a battle of two 0-4 teams. The Jazz come into this game after being blown out the night before by the Nets in the first of a 4 game road trip. They will continue their trip through Chicago and Toronto after this game. The Jazz are also short handed with 5 players on the injured list. If ever there was a game that the Celtics should win, it is this one.

The Jazz are 36-50 all time vs the Celtics and 11-32 all time on the road. They have lost 5 straight games to the Celtics. No current players on the Jazz were on the last team that beat the Celtics on March 22, 2010.

The Celtics are still looking for their first win and hoping to avoid becoming the first Celtics team since their first season in 1946 to open the season 0-5. To do that, they are going to have to find a way to close out the game by avoiding turnovers and finding someone who can hit a shot late in the game.

Gerald Wallace left Monday's game with a bruised knee. He is listed as day to day and should he not be able to play, I'm not sure who Stevens will start in his place. Stevens may possibly start Jordan Crawford at the point and move Bradley to the 2 as that seemed to work in the preseason.


Be sure to tune into the CLNS Post Game Show after the game. Your broadcast crew is Daniel Baker and Nick Gelso. Brandon Paul (B-Paul) will be stationed in the chatroom at CelticsBlog and manning the CLNS Radio social media outlets. As always, we will be taking your calls throughout the entire broadcast.

Probable Starters

PG: Avery Bradley

SG: Gerald Wallace

SF: Jeff Green

PF: Brandon Bass

C: Vitor Faverani

Celtics Reserves

MarShon Brooks

Jordan Crawford

Kris Humphries

Kelly Olynyk

Phil Pressey

Jared Sullinger

Courtney Lee

Phil Pressey (ankle) day to day

Keith Bogans (thumb) day to day

Injuries

Rajon Rondo (ACL)out

Gerald Wallace (knee) day to day

Probable Starters

PG: Jamaal Tinsley

SG: Gordon Hayward

SF: Richard Jefferson

PF: Derrick Favors

C: Enes Kanter

Jazz Reserves

Rudy Gobert

John Lucas III

Alec Burks

Michael Harris

Ian Clark

Injuries

Andris Biedrins (ankle) out

Trey Burke (finger) out

Jeremy Evans (rotator cuff) out

Brandon Rush (knee) out

Marvin Williams (Achilles) out

Key Matchups

vs

Gerald Wallace's status is uncertain for this game, but this is a game where the Celtics would need his size at the shooting guard spot to match up with Hayward. His defense is also needed on Hayward, who is averaging 15 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.

vs

Vitor Faverani vs Enes Kanter

Kanter has been playing very well for the Jazz, averaging 17.8 points and 9.5 rebounds. He scored a season high 21 points against the Nets last night. Vitor, who is averaging 9.5 points and 7.3 rebounds, will need to play tough defense to keep Kanter from going off.

Honorable Mention
Jeff Green vs Richard Jefferson

The big question in this matchup is whether Jeff Green will have two good games in a row or fall back into the pattern of one aggressive game, two invisible games. Richard Jefferson has lost a step over the years but he is still averaging 11.7 points and the Celtics will need to pay attention to him.

Keys to the Game

Run, Run, Run - The Celtics have to run. They have the youth and the depth to run every time down the floor but for some reason they walk the ball up part of the time. They need to get the ball up the court before the defenses can get set.

Rebound - The Celtics have been doing better on the boards since that first game, but they need to put out the effort every game to grab rebounds, especially on the offensive end.

Take Care of the Ball - The Celtics are still turning the ball over too much. They have to take better care of the ball, make smart passes, and limit their turnovers.

Play 48 Minutes - The Celtics have been playing very well for 46 minutes and then in the last two minutes they seem to fall apart. They must find a way to close out the game and execute in the final couple minutes of the game.

X-Factors

Home and Jazz Fatigue

The Celtics are playing at home and hopefully the home crowd will give them a boost in this game. Also, the Jazz are on a road trip and playing in the second of back to back games so fatigue may set in to give the Celtics an edge.

Official Report
James Capers
The son of former NBA official James Capers Sr., James Capers
has officiated 1,049 regular season games, 55 Playoff games and
two NBA Finals games during his 18-season NBA career. In addition to his NBA experience,
Capers has six years of CBA officiating experience, including three CBA Finals and two CBA All-
Star Games.
The community-conscious Capers was the recipient of the 1998 Monarch Award as Chicago
Sportsman of the Year for his career and community achievements. Capers also conducts NBA
Read to Achieve programs at two Chicago Public schools -- Vanderpool and May Academy Elementary
Schools.

I've seen several posts from Lakers fans who swear he hates the Lakers. At least he has that in his favor. In 2012, Capers called game 2 of the ECF and the officiating was terrible in that game. The Heat shot 47 free throws to 29 for the Celtics. Pierce, Dooling and Pietrus all fouled out. There were bad calls and missed calls throughout the game. Lebron James took 24 free throws himself, only 4 less than the entire Celtics team.

The Celtics are 6-4 over their last 10 games with Capers. One loss last season was the Nets game that resulted in a brawl. Capers gave Doc a T for yelling to Rondo. They let the Nets get away with pushing and shoving and hard fouls the entire first half. The Nets shot 17 free throws to 5 for the Celtics in the first half and 3 of those free throws were on technicals. They did better in the second half after the brawl, but the refs' failure to call the game evenly in the first half led to the fight. One win last season was over the Pacers. The refs let them play in the first half and then started calling more on the Celtics in the second half. The Pacers shot 28 free throws to 18 for the Celtics. Capers also called a flagrant 2 on KG, which resulted in his ejection. The league downgraded the flagrant 2 upon review which shows that it was a bad call. Another win was a 2 point win over the Bulls where the Bulls shot 17 free throws to 12 for the Celtics and they let a lot go both ways. The second loss last season was to the Heat where Miami shot 28 free throws to 13 for the Celtics and the game was pretty much called one sided for the Heat. The Jazz are 4-6 over their last 10 games. He is considered to be a "homer ref" with a home W/L record last season of 47-20 and 3-0 this season.

Derek Richardson
Derek Richardson has officiated 943 regular season games and one
playoff game, as well as the 2003 NBA Rookie Game in Atlanta,
during his 16 seasons as an NBA official. Prior to joining the NBA, Richardson spent eight years
officiating in the CBA, including the 1996 CBA All-Star game and two games of the 1996 CBA
Finals.
Richardson played basketball at Los Angeles Southwest College and earned an Associate of Arts
degree in Criminal Justice. He went on to earn a degree in Administration of Justice from Los
Angeles Dominguez Hills.
Richardson has volunteered with the South Central Los Angeles YMCA, assisting with youth
basketball programs.

Richardson is known for being inconsistent with his calls, especially on charge/block calls. The Celtics are 9-1 over their last 10 games with Richardson. The Jazz are 3-7 over their last 10 games with Richardson as a ref. He was a crew referee in 4 games last season without any calls standing out one way or the other. His home W/L record this season is 3-0.

Kevin Scott
Kevin Scott enters his third NBA season having officiated 86 regular
season games. Scott’s experience includes four seasons and
138 games officiated in the NBA D-League where he officiated the playoffs in 2009, 2010, 2011
and was selected to work the NBA D-League Finals in 2011.
Scott’s collegiate experience includes four years in the Southeastern Conference, 10 years in the
Atlantic Sun Conference, six years in the Southern Conference, and seven years in the Big South
Conference. He was also one of the replacement officials during the referee lockout in 2009. He may be remembered for ejecting Bobcats'coach Larry Brown from an exhibition game that season and then calling security to escort him from the court when he didn't leave quickly enough for Scott. Brown was fined $60,000 for verbally abusing Scott.

This will be Scott's eighth career game for the Celtics and they are 5-2 with Scott in his career. The first was a win over NJ where the Nets shot 28 free throws to 17 for the Celtics. The second was against the Bobcats where the Celtics shot 45 free throws to 35 for Charlotte and every play seemed to result in a foul. The third was vs the Wizards where the Celtics shot 34 free throws to 7 for the Wizards and the Celtics seemed to get the benefit of a lot of close calls. Another game was at Cleveland where both teams took 22 free throws and the officiating was good for the most part. He also called the OT win over Utah where the Celtics took 20 free throws to 24 for the Jazz and the officiating was good. Another game that he called was the 1 point loss at New Orleans where the Hornets took 26 free throws to 17 for the Celtics and the officials missed a couple of key calls down the stretch. The last game was against the Magic where they Celtics took 19 free throws to 15 for the Magic and the refs pretty much let them play. The Jazz are 3-3 with Scott over his career. His home W/L record this season is 1-2.