Celtics (12-27) at Timberwolves (23-27) 2/11

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Boston Celtics (12-37) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (23-27)
Sunday, February 11, 2007 • 6:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #50 • Road Game #25
Target Center • Minneapolis, MN



Probable Starters

PG: Rajon Rondo PPG 5.2 | APG 3.2 | SPG 1.36
SG: Delonte West PPG 10.8 | APG 4.2 | 3P% .364
C: Al Jefferson PPG 14 | RPG 10.7 | BPG 1.5
PF: Brian Scalabrine PPG 3.7 | RPG 1.7 | BPG 0.3
SF: Ryan Gomes PPG 12.2 | RPG 5.9 | BPG 0.2

Key Off the Bench

Pierce/Green/Perk
Doc has said he is considering starting Pierce so he may be back in the starting lineup.

Injuries
Wally Szczerbiak - ankle - out
Theo Ratliff - back - out
Tony Allen - knee - out
Michael Olowokandi - flu - day to day




Probable Starters

PG: Mike James PPG 11 | APG 4.2 | SPG 0.7
SG: Ricky Davis PPG 16 | RPG 3.8 | APG 4.6
C: Mark Blount PPG 13.5 | RPG 6.5 | BPG 0.9
PF: Kevin Garnett PPG 22.4 | RPG 12.5 | BPG 1.8
SF: Trenton Hassell PPG 8.1 | RPG 3.4 | APG 2.9

Key Off the Bench

Foye/Jaric/Madsen

Injuries
None

Key Matchup
vs
Since Rondo moved into the starting PG spot, our turnovers are down. Mike James should be a good match up for him.

Key Players
and
Big Al needs to have a big game on both ends of the floor. We also have to contain Garnett.

Celtics.com has Scal starting but I think it is a mistake. Doc should start Perk against Blount and Al against Garnett. We need to be dominant in the paint against the Wolves and Scal doesn't play inside.

We have to improve offensively if we want to win. We aren't going to win games shooting 34%.

Playing the Wolves is always interesting since we are playing against ex-Celtics Mike James, Mark Blount and Ricky Davis. I have a feeling they are going to be playing very hard so as not to let their old team beat them.

The way things have been going for the C's I wouldn't be surprised to see Blount have a double/double and Ricky score 20+...Oh and lets not forget about that KG guy.

Seriously though I don't see any chance in hell that the Celtics will be able to stop Foye, Davis and Garnett, and even if we play decent defense its not like our offense is capable of very much. I'll be watching to see how Paul does with limited minutes in his second game back, and see if Gerald can continue to disapoint me. The Garnett/Jefferson match up should be fun to watch, but I don't expect Jefferson to have a great scoring night with KG on him.

Prediction: Celtics Loss
(Hell Ive gotten the last 17 right why change it now)

The Wolves have alot of lazy defenders if the C's committ to driving on this team i think you can put them in early Foul trouble or find easy baskets.Their ball handlers are average at best an i think our guards can make some things happen defensively helping out our offense in the long run.I would like to see Perk start though an match up an get physical early an HARD on Blount.This will get him out of his game early.The key offensively is to drive an make their lazy defense move an when we aren't driving start working Al till his arm falls off.This is a winnable game despite our injuries an youth.
Prediction:Celtics by 7.

Here's something to consider....Garnett went crazy on the Suns to end their long winning streak, maybe he'll be another streak ender and have a HORRIBLE night to end our losing streak.

Kevin Garnett = Streak Breaker!

How does Pierce take Rondo's spot rather than West's or Scal's? That kills me...I know they're trying to lose, but that kills me.

Hey, at least we're winning, right now at least.

Coming down to the wire....107-107 with 1 minute left!

And another one bites the dust.

18 straight losses...

Here comes MikeDead....

Oh and I forgot to point out...how bad is it that it was Ricky Davis who hit the game winner...

And WHY oh WHY was Delonte our leading rebounder? That's sad.

I don't even want to get into this one... It's so obvious they were trying to lose at the end...either that or it was just Doc being a retard - I can't tell the difference anymore.

Scalabrine in there at the end of the game? Big Perk doing a great job on KG gets pulled with 7 minutes left? Rondo, the best perimeter defender, on the bench with the game tied at 107? West at PG in cruch time? Gomes on the bench?

Man, what a big waste of space Scalabrine is... 36 minutes...0 points, 5 fouls, 5 rebounds?! How are you 6'9 and only get 5 rebounds in 36 minutes and do nothing else?

I don't know why West is the point guard of this team. He is a terrible ballhandler. I'm sick of him.

bankshot wrote:I don't know why West is the point guard of this team. He is a terrible ballhandler. I'm sick of him.

I think you answered your own question...he's point guard because he can't handle the ball. Makes the tanking that much easier!

best gamethread I have ever seen, keep it up!

QuenteK25 wrote:And another one bites the dust.

18 straight losses...

Here comes MikeDead....

One Loss Closer To Greg Oden...

Its kind of funny that Blount and Ricky played so well against us and the guy who we recieved in that trade wasnt even playing. KG had a triple/double, seems like he does that alot. I guess the bright side is Pierce had a good game. Doc said he was only gonna play 20 minutes, but Doc obviously wanted to win this game so he played him more.