The Celtics start their 4 recreation Western highway journey with a cease in San Francisco to tackle the Golden State Warriors. That is the second and ultimate recreation between these two groups this season. The primary recreation between them was in Boston on December 17. Despite the Celtics outshooting the Warriors general and on 3-pointers and making three extra free throws and tying them on the boards, the Warriors received 111-107.
The Celtics had been with out Grant Williams, Jabari Parker, Sam Hauser, Juancho Hernangomez, Al Horford and Dennis Schroder, all of whom had been out resulting from well being and security protocols. The Warriors had been with out Jordan Poole. Klay Thompson and James Wiseman hadn’t performed in any respect to that time. There was a controversial name at half time of that recreation when Marcus Sensible was known as for a foul on a Stephen Curry 50-foot buzzer-beating heave. Ime Udoka complained in regards to the name and was known as for a technical foul. Curry made all 4 free throws and people 4 factors ended up because the distinction within the recreation.
Thompson is now again and taking part in properly however Wiseman remains to be out. Draymond Inexperienced returned on Monday after lacking 30 video games. He got here off the bench on Monday however could return to the beginning lineup on this one. He’s on a 20-23 minute restriction. If he begins, Jonathan Kuminga will return to the bench. Andrew Wiggins missed Monday’s recreation and Tuesday’s apply with an sickness and is questionable for this recreation. If he can’t play, Jordan Poole will possible as soon as once more begin in his place. Nemanja Bjelica can be questionable resulting from an sickness. Monday was the primary recreation that Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Inexperienced performed collectively since 2019.
The Celtics stay fifth within the East. They’re coming off a loss to the Mavericks and are 7-3 of their final 10 video games. They’re 17-16 on the highway and 11-12 towards Western Convention groups. They’re simply half a recreation behind 4th place Chicago, 1 recreation behind third place Philadelphia, and a pair of video games behind 2nd place Milwaukee. They’re 4.5 video games out of first place. They’re 1.5 video games forward of sixth place Cleveland, 2.5 video games forward of seventh place Toronto and 5.5 video games forward of eighth place Brooklyn.
The Warriors are third within the West. They’ve received their final 4 video games and are 5-5 of their final 10 video games. They’re 29-7 at dwelling and 19-6 towards Jap Convention groups. They’re tied with the Grizzlies, who’re 2nd resulting from proudly owning the tie breaker with the Warriors. They’re 7.5 video games behind the primary place Phoenix Suns. They’re 4.5 video games forward of 4th place Utah Jazz. The West isn’t fairly as tight on the prime because the East is.
The Celtics are taking part in within the first recreation of a 4 recreation Western highway journey. They are going to go to Sacramento, Denver after which Oklahoma Metropolis to shut out the journey. They are going to then head dwelling to face the Jazz and Timberwolves. The Celtics have 7 highway video games remaining after this one and 5 dwelling video games. The Warriors are taking part in within the third recreation of a 4 recreation dwelling stand. They received the primary two video games over the Bucks and the Wizards. They are going to play the Spurs on Sunday to shut out the house stand. They are going to then head out on a 5 recreation Jap highway journey.
The Celtics have received 7 of their final 10 video games over the Warriors and have received their final 3 on the highway at Golden State. They swept the collection 2-0 final season. They’re 207-137 all time general towards the Warriors and 93-97 all time on the highway at Golden State. Malik Fitts and Kelan Martin’s second 10 day contracts ran out on Tuesday. Martin was launched and Fitts was signed by means of the 2022-23 season. Aaron Nesmith stays out with the ankle sprain.
Possible Celtics Starters
PG: Marcus Sensible
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Al Horford
C: Robert Williams III
Celtics Reserves
Payton Pritchard
Grant Williams
Derrick White
Daniel Theis
Luke Kornet
Sam Hauser
Malik Fitts
Nick Stauskas
Accidents
Aaron Nesmith (ankle) out
Two-Approach Gamers
Brodric Thomas
Matt Ryan
Head Coach
Ime Udoka
Possible Warriors Starters
PG: Stephen Curry
SG: Klay Thompson
SF: Jordan Poole
PF: Jonathan Kuminga
C: Kevon Looney
Warriors Reserves
Draymond Inexperienced
Damion Lee
Moses Moody
Otto Porter, Jr
Juan Toscano-Anderson
Accidents
Andre Iguodala (again) out
James Wiseman (knee) out
Gary Payton II (knee) out
Andrew Wiggins (sickness) questionable
Nemanja Bjelica (sickness) questionable
Two Approach Gamers
Chris Chiozza
Quinndary Weatherspoon
Head Coach
Steve Kerr
Key Matchups
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Marcus Sensible
Photograph by Chris Gardner/Getty Photos
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Stephen Curry
Photograph by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Photos
Marcus Sensible vs Stephen Curry
Curry is a really robust cowl for each workforce within the league as he can rating from just about wherever on the ground. He’s averaging 25.8 factors, 5.3 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per recreation. He’s capturing 43.8% from the ground and 38.1% from past the arc. He’s coming off a 47 level recreation towards the Wizards. The Celtics must do their finest to gradual him down.
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Jaylen Brown
Photograph by Omar Rawlings/Getty Photos
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Klay Thompson
Photograph by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Photos
Jaylen Brown vs Klay Thompson
Thompson is lastly again on the courtroom for the Warriors and is averaging 17.8 factors, 4.0 rebounds and a pair of.9 assists per recreation. He’s capturing 41.8% from the sector and 37.1% from past the arc. Jaylen Brown might want to play robust protection on this recreation for the Celtics to have an opportunity. Holding Thompson and Curry off the three level line is vital since they’re very harmful from on the market.
Honorable Point out
Jayson Tatum vs Jordan Poole
Poole is averaging 16.9 factors, 3.1 rebounds, and three.6 assists per recreation. He’s capturing 45.5% from the sector and 35.8% from past the arc. Poole began on Monday as a result of Andrew Wiggins was out with an harm. Wiggins missed apply on Tuesday and is questionable for this recreation. Wiggins is averaging 17.6 factors, 4.4 rebounds and a pair of.3 assists and is capturing 47.0% from the sector and 40.1% from past the arc and is a recreation time choice for this recreation. No matter who begins for the Warriors, the Celtics will want an enormous recreation on each ends of the courtroom from Jayson Tatum, who struggled towards the Mavericks on Sunday.
Keys to the Recreation
Protection – Protection is the important thing to profitable each single recreation. The Celtics are 1st with a defensive ranking of 105.6. The Warriors are third with a defensive ranking of 105.9. The Warriors are averaging 111.6 factors per recreation (tenth) whereas the Celtics are averaging 109.5 factors (sixteenth). The Celtics should make protection a precedence in the event that they hope to win this recreation. The Celtics should particularly guard the perimeter because the Warriors are third in 3 pointers tried and made. The Celtics struggled to attain towards a troublesome Mavericks protection on Sunday and hopefully they’ll determine that out and do higher towards the Warriors even more durable protection. The Warriors one weak spot is that they’re twenty ninth within the league in turnovers with 14.9 per recreation. The Celtics could make them pay for that with good lock down protection.
Rebound – The Celtics are averaging 46.3 rebounds per recreation (4th) whereas the Warriors are averaging 45.4 rebounds per recreation (eighth). It takes effort to seize rebounds and the Celtics should make an additional effort to crash the boards and pull down rebounds. In the event that they put out further effort on the boards, that often carries by means of to the remainder of their recreation. Extra rebounds offers them further possessions and limits the possessions for the Warriors. They must work more durable on the boards than the Warriors.
Keep Targeted – The Celtics have to be centered on making good passes and never getting sloppy and careless with their passes. Additionally they must concentrate on taking good care of the ball as they dribble and deal with the ball and never flip it over. The Warriors are fifth within the league with 18.1 factors off turnovers per recreation and if the Celtics lose focus and get sloppy they may positively benefit from it. The Mavericks’ protection appeared to take the Celtics out of their recreation. They need to keep centered on taking good photographs and on making them despite the Warriors robust protection.
Be Aggressive – The Celtics must be the extra aggressive workforce from begin to end. They must be aggressive in going to the ring, in crashing the boards, in preventing for free balls and in operating the courtroom. Additionally they must be extra aggressive on protection. They must be the workforce that desires it extra. If the Celtics need to get a win on this recreation, they must play more durable than the Warriors. Effort and being extra aggressive could make the distinction on this recreation.
Bench Play – The Celtics reserves gave them simply 15 factors towards the Mavericks on Sunday. Solely Payton Pritchard, Grant Williams and Derrick White performed and all 3 struggled considerably towards the Mavs’ protection. Collectively, they had been 6-23 from the sector and 2-13 from past the arc. The Celtics want extra from their bench gamers on each offense and protection in the event that they hope to get a win on this one because the Warriors are a deep workforce.
X-Elements
On the Highway – The Celtics are starting a troublesome 4 recreation highway journey and needed to journey throughout the nation to get to this primary recreation. The Celtics must shake off the distractions of journey, being away from dwelling, and taking part in on the highway in entrance of a hostile crowd, to not point out towards an excellent Warriors workforce that performs robust at dwelling. They should stick collectively and hold one another centered.
What’s at Stake – The Celtics are in a really shut and really robust playoff race within the East. Every win or loss has the potential to maneuver the workforce up or down within the standings. Additionally, after outplaying the Warriors for a lot of the recreation in Boston, questionable officiating and some photographs down the stretch gave the Warriors that recreation. The Celtics want to make use of that loss as further motivation to play more durable and be extra centered on this recreation.
Officiating – Officiating isn’t at all times an element however it at all times has the potential to be an element. Each officiating workforce calls the sport in another way. Some name it tight and others allow them to play. Some are tech joyful whereas others let extra go. Some favor the house workforce whereas some name it straight. Nevertheless the sport is named, the Celtics should modify to it and never enable the officiating to remove their concentrate on taking part in the sport. Complaining about calls hardly ever adjustments something apart from to remove from their concentrate on taking part in the sport.
DraftKings
According to our friends at DraftKings, the Celtics are two-point underdogs as they begin their four-game west coast highway journey within the Bay. The Warriors stumbled out of February, losers of 9 out of 11 video games earlier than profitable their final 4 heading into tonight. For the reason that All-Star break, Boston handed a number of checks at TD Backyard with wins over Atlanta, Memphis, and Brooklyn, however haven’t actually been examined on the highway since early December.
Draymond Inexperienced’s return after a prolonged absence clearly makes the Warriors exponentially extra harmful, however the Warriors may have key members out of their lineup. Andrew Wiggins is questionable after not taking part in on Monday and never training yesterday. Gary Payton II is out which eliminates a key defender towards Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
As CelticsBlog’s Adam Taylor famous earlier right now, tonight’s game will be won in the margins. Along with rebounding and capturing, what is going to tip the scales is the manufacturing of the supporting forged. Over the past 5 video games, the trio of Derrick White, Grant Williams, and Payton Pritchard have averaged lower than twenty factors per recreation between them. The Celtics will lean into their defensive id on most nights, however towards an explosive Warriors workforce, they’ll must match their offensive firepower, too.
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