Celtics (18-44) at Bulls (37-28) 3/13

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Boston Celtics (18-44) at Chicago Bulls (37-28)
Tuesday, March 13, 2007 • 8:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #63 • Home Game #32
United Center, - Chicago, Illinois


Probable Starters
Point Guard
VS
Rajon Rondo #9 PPG 5.3 RPG 3.10 APG 3.1
Kirk Hinrich #12 PPG 16.0 RPG 3.40 APG 6.1

Shooting Guard
VS
Gerald Green #5 PPG 9.5 RPG 2.50 APG 1.0
Ben Gordon #7 PPG 21.5 RPG 3.20 APG 3.6

Small Forward
VS
Paul Pierce #34 PPG 25.2 RPG 6.40 APG 4.0
Luol Deng #9 PPG 18.7 RPG 7.10 APG 2.2

Power Forward
VS
Al Jefferson #7 PPG 15.0 RPG 11.20 APG 1.2
PJ Brown #42 PPG 5.8 RPG 4.80 APG 0.5

Center
VS
Kendrick Perkins#43 PPG 4.0 RPG 4.40 APG 1.2
Ben Wallace #3 PPG 6.1 RPG 10.40 APG 2.2




Off the Bench

Scalabrine/Ray/Powe/West/Telfair

Injuries
Szczerbiak Ankle out
Allen Knee out
Ratliff Back out
Gomes foot day to day
West concussion day to day

Notes West declared himself ready to go on Sunday but the doctors wanted to be cautious and didn't clear him. I expect him to play in this game. It is hard to tell what Doc will do. Rondo should remain as the starting PG to reward him for his play in the past 2 games. West would be best used starting at the 2 guard but then, Doc may bring him off the bench at the point or knowing Doc, he may start him at the point, which would be a mistake considering how well Rondo has been playing.


Off the Bench

Duhon/Griffin/Thomas/Sefolosha/Khryapa

Injuries
Allen - irregular heart beat day-to-day
Andriuskevicius - Concussion out rest of season
Andres Nocioni - Plantar fasciaitis out indefinitely

Notes: The Bulls are a good defensive team and we had a hard time offensively against them. We will have to play a lot better if we want to win one in Chicago. Deng in particular gave Pierce a very hard time and is one player I wouldn't mind bringing to Boston.

Keys to the Game
Move the Ball on Offense Part of our offensive problems stemmed from the fact that we didn't have good ball movement and players were holding the ball too long or trying to do too much individually. We need to move the ball, find the open man, and hit our shots.

Defense The Bulls shot over 50% in Boston. We have to do a better job of getting stops and defending the basket. It is obvious we can't outscore them, so we have to do better on defense and keep them away from the basket.

Rebounding They beat us on the boards in Boston. We have to be more aggressive and win the rebounding war if we want to get a win. Al was held to only 6 rebounds and we need him to be more aggressive on the glass.

Limit turnovers We had 17 turnovers against the Bulls in Boston and we need to take better care of the ball.

Interesting Fact
The Bulls will be wearing green uniforms in honor of St Patrick's Day for this game.

Something tells me that Doc will find a way to screw this game up too. Leon Powe was dominating in yesterday's game against the Bulls, and was more of an inside force then Al Jefferson was for that game, yet Doc still pulled him out in the middle of the Celtics run at the Bulls, and of course, the Bulls started pounding us inside, and that opened up things for Deng and Hinrich on the outside and Chicago pulled away with the game.

Powe is a much better offensive player then Perk and Im starting to think that he's a much better defensive player as well. We all know he's a better rebounder then Perk and hustles every play, so Im starting to get frustrated seeing Scalabrine and Perk play twice as many minutes as Powe.

Id like to see Powe, Telfair, Rondo & Ray get a good chunk of minutes for this game.

I think Perk is an important player because he can occupy any big man in the league and do a good job keeping them in check. I do agree that Powe should be getting Scal's minutes. He's an intense player, tough rebounder and has good range. There's no reason Powe shouldn't be playing at this point in the season other than Doc knows they'd probably win games with him.

The biggest problem I see with Perk is he often finds himself in foul trouble, almost forcing Doc to play Scalabrine. Well that and the fact that he has no offensive game at all.

Eh...he takes a shot if its there, otherwise, he's a very good passer out of the post.

Ive just grown sick of watching Perk toss up that ugly looking hook shot.