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<\/a><\/p>\nJalen Duren Getty Images<\/p>\n
Celtics Reserves
Anfernee Simons
Josh Minott
Xavier Tillman
Jordan Walsh
Hugo Gonzalez
Luka Garza
Baylon Scheierman
Chris Boucher
2-Way Players
Ron Harper, Jr
Max Shulga
Amari Williams
Injuries\/Out
Jayson Tatum (Achilles) out
Josh Minott (ankle) out
Chris Boucher (back) probable
Payton Pritchard (ankle) available<\/p>\n
Pistons Reserves
Javonte Green
Jaden Ivey
Bobi Klintman
Chaz Lanier
Paul Reed
Isaiah Stewart
Caris LeVert
Marcus Sasser<\/p>\n
Two Way Players
Daniss Jenkins
Colby Jones
Tolu Smith<\/p>\n
Injuries\/Out
Ron Holland II (illness) questionable<\/p>\n
Key Matchups
Derrick White vs Cade Cunningham
Cunningham is averaging 25.9 points, 6 rebounds, 9.6 assists, and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 45.8% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc. In the 3 game against the Celtics, he averaged 33 points 5 rebounds and 7.7 assists while shooting 47.7% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc. The Celtics must defend him well both in the paint and on the perimeter and they need to expect him to pass to the open man since he is averaging 9.6 assists per game.<\/p>\n
Neemias Queta vs Jalen Duren
Duren is averaging 17.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game while shooting 62.8% from the field with no 3 pointers. In the first 3 games against Boston, he averaged 14 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks while shooting 46.4% from the field with no threes. The Celtics need to try to keep him out of the paint and off the boards.
Honorable Mention
Sam Hauser vs Tobias Harris
Harris is averaging 13.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists while shooting 46.2% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc. In the first 3 games against the Celtics, he averaged 14.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists while shooting 45.5% from the field and 17.6% from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n
Keys to the Game
Defense – As always, defense is the key to winning this, and every, game. The Celtics have been up and down with their defensive effort, even quarter to quarter within a game. The Celtics are 14th with a defensive rating of 114.0. The Pistons, on the other hand, are 2nd with a defensive rating of 108.5. The Celtics have to especially defend the paint as the Pistons are 2nd with 57.1 points in the paint per game.
The Celtics have to be ready for the tough defense that the Pistons play and they must make defense a priority and match the Pistons\u2019 effort on defense if they hope to win this game.<\/p>\n
Rebound – As with defense, rebounding will always be a key to winning. The Celtics have to crash the boards as a team and go after every rebound. The Celtics are 10th in the league with 44.9 rebounds per game. The Pistons are 3rd, averaging 46.4 rebounds per game. The Pistons average 17 second chance points per game, which is 6th in the league. Every Celtic has to crash the boards and they must work harder to grab rebounds than the Pistons to limit those 2nd chance points.<\/p>\n
Move the Ball Carefully – The Celtics need to move the ball to get the best shots. The Celtics are much better when they move the ball and don\u2019t lapse into iso ball. But, they have to be careful with the ball and avoid turnovers. They need to make careful passes and also focus on their ball handling so as not to turn the ball over. They are best in the league with just 12.0 turnovers per game. However, they tend to lose focus and at times turn the ball over way too much. The Pistons are 2nd in the league with 21.8 points off turnovers per game and they will make the Celtics pay if they get sloppy.<\/p>\n
Effort and Energy for 48 Minutes- The Celtics have to play with extra effort overall for all 4 quarters. In most of their losses and even in some of their wins, they have allowed their opponents to play with more energy than them for periods of time during the game. They play well for stretches but let up and allow their opponents to surge ahead. The Celtics need to make playing with more effort and energy their identity this season and play that way for the entire game, not just a quarter or two. Hopefully they can play well for 48 minutes in this one just as they did against the Hawks.<\/p>\n
X-Factors
On the Road – The Celtics are on the road for the 4th straight game. They need to overcome the distractions of playing on the road and in front of a hostile crowd and stay focused on playing the right way. They have to come out playing hard right from the beginning and try to keep the Pistons\u2019 crowd from getting into the game. The final game of a road trip is always a tough game and the Celtics need to stay extra focused and play extra hard to get a win.
Officiating – Officiating is always an x-factor in every game. Every crew officiates differently. Some call it tight, others let them play. The Celtics need to adjust to how the refs are calling the game and not allow bad calls or no calls to take away their focus from playing the game. We have recently seen how much of an x-factor officiating can be. The Celtics have to play so well all game that the officiating, no matter how bad, can\u2019t influence the outcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics (26-15) at Detroit Pistons (30-10)Monday, January 19, 20268:00 PM ETRegular Season Game #42, Road Game #23TV:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,38331,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-547664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-celtics-game-previews","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115924265841433103","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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