Celtics Visit Red Hot Bucks Looking for 5th Straight Win
by FLCeltsFan on Mar 9, 2010 3:30 PM EST
in CelticsBlog
at
Boston Celtics (40-21) at Milwaukee Bucks (33-29)
Tuesday, March 9
8:00 PM ET
Game #62, Road Game #33
TV: CSN HD, FSN Wisc, NBA LP 760, 761
Bradley Center
Referees: Tom Washington, Marat Kogut, Jason Phillips
Game Thread l Chat
The Bucks have been on a roll as of late. They are 9-1 in their last 10 games and have won 3 in a row. The Celtics have been picking up the pace lately also, having won 7 of their last 10 and they bring a 4 game win streak into this game. The Bucks are in the 5th spot in the East, 7.5 games behind the Celtics who are in the 3rd spot, just a game and a half behind the Magic.
The Celtics beat the Bucks 98-89 in Boston earlier in the season, but this Bucks team is way different from the one we faced then. 6 players that were on the floor for the Bucks then have been traded and John Salmons, Primoz Brezec, Ersan Ilyasova, and Royal Ivey have replaced them in the rotation. Salmons and Ilyasova have both been hot for the Bucks in recent games.
The Bucks come into this game well rested having last played on Saturday while the Celtics have had one day off coming into this game. Both teams are coming off a win over the Washington Wizards, although the Bucks' win was a blowout and the Celtics barely squeaked by after sleepwalking through the first 3 quarters.
We are entering the stretch run now where every game counts toward getting home court advantage in the playoffs. The Celtics can't afford to lose focus and hope to flip a switch sometime during the game. They may have gotten away with that against the Wizards, but that will be much tougher against a team like the Bucks. One win streak will end and if the Celtics don't want it to be theirs, they need to come out focused and play for 48 minutes.
The Celtics could possibly face the Bucks in the playoffs and so they must send a message in this game so as not to give the Bucks any momentum or confidence should they meet up in the playoffs.
Coach: Doc Rivers
Average Age: 29.0
Average Height: 6-6
Average Weight: 228
Probable Starters
PG: Rajon Rondo PPG 14.1 APG 9.9 SPG 2.5
SG: Ray Allen PPG 16.5 APG 2.7 3P% .352
SF: Paul Pierce PPG 17.7 RPG 4.4 APG 3.2
PF: Kevin Garnett PPG 14.4 RPG 7.5 BPG .9
C: Kendrick Perkins PPG 10.8 RPG 7.8 BPG 1.8
Coach: Scott Skiles
Average Age: 28.4
Average Height: 6-6
Average Weight: 220
Probable Starters
PG: Brandon Jennings PPG 15.8 APG 6.1 SPG 1.4
SG: John Salmons PPG 13.8 APG 2.6 3P%..370
SF: Carlos Delfino PPG 10.6 APG 5.3 APG 2.6
PF: Luc Richard Mbah a Moute PPG 6.7 RPG 5.5 BPG .6
C: Andrew Bogut PPG 16.0 RPG 10.3 BPG 2.4
Key Matchups
vs 
Rajon Rondo vs Brandon Jennings
The Bucks rookie PG has been impressive and is one of the leaders for Rookie of the year. Rondo has been impressive himself as of late. Rondo needs to use his experience to get the best of this matchup.
vs 
Kendrick Perkins vs Andrew Bogut
Bogut been having a great year and is a big reason that the Bucks are playing very well. There should be some good battles between these 2 physical centers.
Honorable Mention
Kevin Garnett vs Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
KG has a big height advantage over the 6'8" Mbah a Moute and should be able to get his shot off over him. But KG will need his speed and mobility to keep up with the young and athletic Mbah a Moute on the defensive end
Keys to the Game
Defense, Defense, Defense
Rebound the Ball
Strong Start -Don't dig a hole
Focus for 48 minutes
we need to keep the momentum going
My main concern heading into this game is our frontcourt. I think Perk will play ok against Bogut but I worry about KG’s ability to guard quicker front court people. And Wallace plays little to no D when he gets in the game and baby is undersized so front court is a worry. It would be nice to see Pierce get it going tonight.
Red2 - March 9, 2010
Hopefully the Message we send is this
Would also like to hear Tommy pronounce this name
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
They also have two guys with pointy hair…..that has to cost them at least 5 points..
Thanks FLCeltsfan for the pre-game
Master Po - March 9, 2010
The team logos
look like old fashioned beer cans you would have to open with a can opener which is fitting considering we’re playing in Milwaukee. This will be a tough match up. Pierce needs 20+.
thereallargejames - March 9, 2010
Celtcs win
Because the big 4 are healthy
celtsfan1 - March 9, 2010 via mobile
potential first round matchup here
we better whoop them now and shatter any hope they might have
hpantazo - March 9, 2010
Battle of the "Do"
Jennings vs. Bogut or Delfino
BleedinGreen417 - March 9, 2010
just win
bucks are playing the best ball in thier season,the only message we need to send is that we can WIN against them , no need for a blowout even that’ll be much appreciated =]
stylo617617 - March 9, 2010
at test
Bogut is ugly but , is a double double walking…Jennings can score …and they are the second hottest team since the alll-star break, so we need bury them early…another great setup FlCelt..
Fastbreak1 - March 9, 2010
Let's Do This
So pumped for this game. Not really sure why. Either way, bring it Milwaukee.
Greg Payne - March 9, 2010
Possible Mismatch
Garnett on Mbah a Moute…Mbah’s a Moute’s not a terrific offensive player, and Garnett should be able to use his height advantage in the post.
Greg Payne - March 9, 2010
Mbah a Moute was on KG
most of the night. KG was not comfortable shooting over him, so not an option right now. If KG ever gets his lift back, its a different story, but not tonight.
The mismatch I thought they needed to go to earlier was when the Bucks were playing small ball and Charlie Bell was defending Daniels. Unfortunately, they only tried it once, with Daniels making an easy shot.
Celticsbloke - March 9, 2010
Yeah, I thought Daniels looked good tonight.
I also wish they’d put Sheed in for Perk down the stretch. Perk didn’t have a great game against Bogut.
Garnett shot 7 for 13. He looked pretty comfortable shooting (especially after going 0-7 the last game). He couldn’t buy a foul call though. I thought he should have been sent to the line on at least 4 plays where he was hacked brutally and got no call each time.
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
How to watch
Is there any way to watch this game for free online?
DannyAinge44 - March 9, 2010
www.atdhe.net
Blackberry33 - March 9, 2010
brutal offensive foul call on Rondo
on the replay the defender was clearly up in the air.
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
A few bad no calls the other way
2X ft margin in the celtics’ favor
nba is the worst - March 10, 2010
down 81-79 with 3:30 to go
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
damn, make that 84-79
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
we are getting killed in the last 50 seconds
Bucks go on a 7-0 run.
Need to get some stops here and create some transition baskets.
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
should be '8-0 run'
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
nice basket and one play by rondo gets us back to 86-82.
Rondo’s been able to slash to the hoop all night.
Now would be a nice time for Ray to finally start to sink a shot.
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
rally killer - offensive foul away from the ball by Perk
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
KG sinks a jumper from the top of the key. 86-84 Bucks with 53 seconds left
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
Damn it can't see or hear it
Mofo Internet
Warrior Spirit - March 9, 2010
Get the stop!!!
Warrior Spirit - March 9, 2010
Holy crap. 8.6 seconds left. 2-pt game.
Celtic ball. Time out.
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
Bucks will probably try to foul here.
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
Yep. Foul before the shot. 3.9 s left
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
Pierce misses the jumper. Bucks win.
Damn.
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
Sounds exciting
This kinda sucks
Warrior Spirit - March 9, 2010
Damn - it was in the rim and out.
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
It was a good look and a good shot. Millimeters from overtime.
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
Arrg
Warrior Spirit - March 9, 2010
Garnett and Rondo were the only starters to shoot well tonight.
Perk, Pierce & Ray all were off.
Pierce and Ray were rimming shots in and out all game. Perk just was off-balance all night. Not comfortable shooting over Bogut.
Bogut was unstoppable. Cedric Maxwell called that prior to the game start.
Sheed and the bench played very well. I wish Sheed had been on the floor in those last few minutes. He played much better defense on Bogut, imho, than Perk did.
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
Sheed, Perk didn't make much difference which
Bogut has finally figured it out and is showing what he can do for a well-coached team that plays together.
One thing I did notice was one of those offensive put-backs Bogut got. Sheed had inside position on Bogut, but just stood there and made no effort to put a body on him. Bogut just cut under the basket out of bounds and chased the ball as soon as it hit the rim, beating Davis to the rebound. C’mon Sheed, how hard can it be? Find your man and box him out!
Celticsbloke - March 9, 2010
"didn't make much difference" ???
Totally disagree. Sheed played WAY better than Perk on both offense AND defense tonight. The numbers back this up. Go look at the box scores. Go back and look at the play by play.
The +/- for when each was on the floor is pretty dramatic. Perk: -13 Sheed: +11
Sheed had 4 def rebounds to 3 for Perk – in far fewer minutes. He also had 2 steals.
Bogut scored 2 field goals and drew a foul on Sheed while Sheed was defending him (he also had a transition basket and two other FTs during that span). All the rest of his damage was with Perk on the floor.
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
Well that +/- is pretty good
You may have a point there. I’d have to watch again to really work out how much time Sheed spent on Bogut and how much he impacted Bogut’s ability to score. I can’t recall too many times Wallace directly stopped Bogut one on one though. There was a stretch where the Bucks went away from Bogut for a good while and I was thinking, “you beauty, keep doing that!”
The main point of my comment, though, was really that Bogut is just darn good and we don’t have anyone that can guard him anymore.
Celticsbloke - March 9, 2010
How was the defense tonight?
Warrior Spirit - March 9, 2010
How was the defense tonight?
Warrior Spirit - March 9, 2010
Well, it was not bad. But not great.
Overall, holding a team under 90 is good.
But we could NOT stop Bogut. And that was largely over Perk.
We played best when we were able to prevent them from getting the ball into Bogut’s hands.
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
Yep
More effort was needed to deny Bogut the ball. I thought Perk was too passive in allowing Bogut to catch the ball where he wanted as well. Other teams do slow Bogut down when they keep him further from the basket and harass him when he tries to put the ball on the floor. The one thing he can’t do is shoot much outside the key.
Celticsbloke - March 9, 2010
Four Bucks played over 41 minutes each!
Rondo played 37 to lead the C’s, nobody else over 35.
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
Their playing hot right now.
They don’t have a lot of depth behind the starters though. Not sure if they can sustain this.
mmmmm - March 9, 2010
I think they have pretty good depth actually
Ridnour, Stackhouse and Ilyasova are all very capable coming off the bench. Bell blows hot and cold, but has the ability to have an impact on games – kind of like Tony Allen really. So they have solid backups at every position except centre. That’s their one glaring weakness and it will cost them in the playoffs when Bogut gets into foul trouble.
Celticsbloke - March 9, 2010
Our defence is still keeing us in games
where we shoot badly, but we desperately need Pierce to round into 2008 form for the playoffs so we can close games. I thought he looked okay tonight. He was more aggressive and getting himself in good position to score, but a number of shots just didn’t fall, including the last one of the night, which fittingly rimmed out.
Nice to see Finley’s debut, he had a good little cameo. Would’ve liked to have seen him a little more in the second half, especially when the Bucks went small.
Nate hit two nice threes to get the 2nd unit going in the first half, but then had a few Nate moments in the 2nd half, Jennings disrupting his ball-handling and causing him to overdribble a few times and waste some possessions. Anyone see KG chewing him out on the bench after Doc yanked him? Looked like the shutters went up, so not sure how much Nate was taking in. Lets hope he takes it on board like Davis did and improves his game.
Celticsbloke - March 9, 2010
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