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<\/a><\/p>\nAlperen Sengun Getty Images<\/p>\n
Celtics Reserves
Xavier Tillman
Hugo Gonzalez
Luka Garza
Josh Minott<\/p>\n
2-Way Players
Ron Harper, Jr
Max Shulga
Amari Williams<\/p>\n
Injuries\/Out
Jayson Tatum (Achilles) out
Chris Boucher (personal) out
Sam Hauser (thumb) out
Anfernee Simons (personal) out
Nikola Vucevic (traded) out
Jaylen Brown (hamstring\/knee) doubtful<\/p>\n
Rockets Reserves
Aaron Holiday
Jae\u2019sean Tate
Steven Adams
Reed Sheppard
Josh Okogie
Clint Capela
Jeff Green<\/p>\n
Two Way Players
JD Davison
Isaiah Crawford<\/p>\n
Injuries\/Out
Fred VanVleet (ACL) out
Steven Adams (ankle) out
Kevin Durant (ankle) probable
Dorian Finney-Smith (ankle) out<\/p>\n
Key Matchups
Jaylen Brown vs Kevin Durant
This should be a good matchup. Durant is averaging 26.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. He is shooting 51.0% from the field and 40.5% from beyond the arc. In the first game against the Celtics, Durant finished with 26 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block and 2 steals while shooting 72.7% from the field and 66.7% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to do a better job of defending him in this game.<\/p>\n
Neemias Queta vs Alperen Sengun
Sengun is averaging 21.4 points, 9.4 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 50.1% from the field and 29.3% on threes. In the first game against the Celtics he finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal while shooting 38.5% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to defend him well and box out on rebounds if they want to win this game.<\/p>\n
Honorable Mention
Derrick White vs Amen Thompson
Thompson is averaging 17.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He is shooting 50.7% from the field and 18.6% from beyond the arc. In the first game against the Celtics, he finished with 17 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists while shooting 50% from the field and 100% from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n
Keys to the Game
Defense – Defense is always a key to winning. Players struggle on offense in some games, but they can always play defense. The Rockets have an offensive rating of 117.9 (5th). The Celtics have an offensive rating of 120.7 (2nd). The Rockets are 4th with a defensive rating of 111.9 while the Celtics are 11th with a defensive rating of 113.1. The Celtics have to stick to their defensive identity in this one because the Rockets play tough defense and the Celtics can\u2019t depend on a shoot out to win. In the first game between these two teams, the Celtics allowed the Rockets to shoot 54.5% from the field and 65.5% from beyond the arc. They have to defend better in this game if they hope to win it.<\/p>\n
Rebound – In order to score, the Celtics need the ball and to get the ball, they will need to crash the boards as a team. The Celtics average 45.0 rebounds per game (11th) while the Rockets average 49.4 rebounds per game (1st). Much of rebounding is effort and when the Celtics put out extra effort on the boards, it usually carries over into the rest of their game. The Rockets are 1st in the league with 18.8 second chance points per game. The Rockets are a very good rebounding team and so the Celtics must come into the game determined to put out extra effort and to hustle for every rebound to limit 2nd chance points for the Rockets. In the first game against the Rockets the Celtics were out-rebounded 53-36. They must rebound better in this game.<\/p>\n
Be Aggressive and Stay Focused – The Celtics have to be aggressive in taking the ball to the basket and not settling for 3 pointers on every possession, especially if the 3s aren\u2019t falling. They also have to be aggressive in hustling for rebounds and for loose balls. And they have to be aggressive on defense. They have to play harder than the Rockets and play like the team that wants this game more. They also need to carry that aggressiveness through all 4 quarters with no let up. They also need to stay focused on taking good shots and making them. They have to keep their focus on playing team ball.<\/p>\n
Be Consistent – The Celtics have been up and down this season so far. One game they lose to a team that they clearly should have beat. The next game they win in a blowout over a contender. One game they give up a big lead and lose down the stretch. The next game they come from behind to get a win. The Celtics need to get back to giving consistent effort every game and every quarter. No let up and no easy easy shots for their opponent.<\/p>\n
X-Factors
Back to Back Road Game – The Celtics are on the road where they have a 15-10 record. The Celtics are playing on the second night of back to back games while the Rockets at home and in the first of back to back games. The Celtics had to travel, stay in a hotel, play in front of a hostile crowd and on an unfamiliar court while the Rockets should get a boost from being on their home court. The Celtics also will be short handed as they wait for the trade to be finalized.<\/p>\n
Coaching – The Rockets are led by former Celtics coach Ime Udoka, who left Boston under less than desirable circumstances. He was suspended for violating team rules and assistant coach Joe Mazzulla was made interim coach. Eventually, Udoka was officially released and Mazzulla was made head coach. I am sure that Udoka would love nothing more than to once again beat the team that let him go after he led that team to the Finals.<\/p>\n
Officiating – The officiating is always an x-factor. Some referees call the game tight and others let them play. Some favor the home team and others call it evenly. Recently the officiating has been getting some scrutiny for being visibly bad. The Celtics have to play through whatever calls go against them and not allow bad calls or no calls to take away their focus on playing the game the right way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics (32-18) at Houston Rockets (31-17)Wednesday, February 4, 20268:00 PM ETRegular Season Game #51, Road Game #27TV:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383020,"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-582815","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\/116014788865388828","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582815","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=582815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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