Post by DiamondThief on Jan 21, 2015 22:24:35 GMT -8
Boston Celtics at Portland Trail Blazers
What: The Celtics make their lone appearance of the season in the Rose City to face the Blazers.
When: Thursday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m.
Celtics Media: TV - CSNHD; Radio - 98.5 The Sports Hub
Media: TV - KGW; Radio - Rip City Radio 620AM.
Previous: Nov. 23 - Blazers 94, Celtics 88
Note: The Celtics have had two days off. The Blazers will .
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The Celtics (13-26, 4-13 on the road) are coming off a 102-93 road loss to the Clippers on Jan. 19. They are scoring 102.1 points (8th in the NBA) and are allowing 104.2 points (24th). The Blazers (31-12, 19-4 at home) are coming off a 118-113 road loss to the Suns on Jan. 21. They are scoring 103.3 points (6th) and allowing 97.4 points (6th).
Celtics' Kelly Olynyk; Blazers' Wesley Matthews
BOSTON CELTICS
PROJECTED STARTERS
SF - 30 Brandon Bass
PF - 99 Jae Crowder
C - 7 Jared Sullinger
SG - 11 Evan Turner
PG - 0 Avery Bradley
RESERVES
G - 26 Phil Pressey; 36 Marcus Smart; 4 Marcus Thornton; 13 James Young
F - 12 Tayshaun Prince; 45 Gerald Wallace; 44 Tyler Zeller
C - 42 Shavlik Randolph; 41 Kelly Olynyk
INJURIES
G - 13 James Young (illness) - doubtful
HEAD COACH
Brad Stevens
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Points - Jared Sullinger 13.9
Rebounds - Jared Sullinger 8.1
Assists - Evan Turner 4.2
Blocks - Jared Sullinger 0.8
Steals - Marcus Smart 1.2
FG - Kelly Olynyk 50.9%
FT - Tyler Zeller 85.6%
3pt - Avery Bradley 34.9%
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
PROJECTED STARTERS
SF - 88 Nicolas Batum
PF - 41 Thomas Robinson
C - 35 Chris Kaman
SG - 2 Wesley Matthews
PG - 0 Damian Lillard
RESERVES
G - 5 Will Barton; 25 Steve Blake; 23 Allen Crabbe; 3 CJ McCollum
F - 18 Victor Claver; Dorell Wright
C - 11 Meyers Leonard
INJURY REPORT
F - 12 LaMarcus Aldridge (thumb) - out
F - 19 Joel Freeland (shoulder) - out
C - 42 Robin Lopez (hand) - out
HEAD COACH
Terry Stotts
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Points - LaMarcus Aldridge 23.2
Rebounds - LaMarcus Aldridge 10.5
Assists - Damian Lillard 6.2
Blocks - Robin Lopez 1.5
Steals - Damian Lillard 1.4
FG - Meyers Leonard 51.8%
FT - LaMarcus Aldridge 86.3%
3pt - LaMarcus Aldridge 51.2%
ANGI'S TAKE
The Celtics are quite a different team from when the Blazers faced them back in November. Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green are gone and the team features some young, yet talented players. The Celtics have been using a lineup which features more minutes and production from their bench than their starters. That said, Sullinger leads the team in scoring and rebounding, but with modest numbers. Zeller has been starting, but Olynyk plays more minutes and is the better option in the middle for the team. Turner is a solid guard, but Prince seems to be just getting his footing. Bass is probably the team's best option at small forward, scoring a team-high 17 points in the team's loss to the Clippers. The Blazers traded now-Celtic Wallace to the Nets for their 2012 draft pick which the Blazers used to bring Lillard to Portland. The Blazers are going their their roughest stretch of the season, and injuries are a big part of that. They have lost four of their last five. They came back from a 25-point second-quarter deficit against the Suns to take a five-point lead in the fourth quarter, only to see the Suns pull away with the win. Batum was key in the game, coming away with team highs of 27 points and 10 rebounds, while shooting 6-8 from three-point range. This is another game which could showcase his range of skills. Wright and Robinson provided huge efforts in the fourth quarter for the Blazers. Leonard snared 9 rebounds and Kaman scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half to keep the Blazers alive. In order to win this game, the Blazers are going to have to avoid an early deficit and win the battle of the boards. Matchup to watch: Wesley Matthews vs. Evan Turner.
OFFICIALS
Jason Phillips, Kevin Cutler, Mark Lindsay.
QUOTABLE
Blazers' guard Damian Lillard on the comeback against the Suns: "I don't think we should be satisfied with a moral victory. We didn't deserve to win the game because of how it went. You want to win, you expect to win but not enough things went right."
Celtics' coach Brad Stevens on West Coast road trips: "We're going to change time zones a couple of times. We're going to play against good teams. We're going to play against high-energy teams. We're going to have to make sure that we can do everything that we can to have the right amount of legs for that whole trip."
FEATURED TWEETS
EXTRA
Trail Blazers studio engineer Rich Patterson states what several of us were thinking after the Suns loss.
MATCH UP MEME
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