Tip: 8PM Court: Madison Square Garden Watch it: TNT/CSN Hear it: WEEI
Referees: Derrick Stafford, David Jones, Rodney Mott, Josh Tiven (alternate)
Are you watching or going to tonight’s Celtics game? RSVP here and be entered to win $200 in free tickets.
Game 1 leading scorers:
Boston: Jeff Green (26 pts, 8-15 fg, 3-5 3pt, 7-7 ft)
New York: Carmelo Anthony (36 pts, 13-29 fg, 4-6 3pt, 6-6 ft)
Game 1 leading rebounders:
Boston: Brandon Bass (10, 1 offensive)
New York: Kenyon Martin (9, 5 offensive)
Game 1 leading assists:
Boston: Paul Pierce (7)
New York: Raymond Felton (6)
Key stats from Game 1:
- Boston bench: 0 field goals
- Celtics turnovers: 20 (15 steals for NYK)
- Knicks offensive rebounds: 10
Celtics offensive adjustments:
Run the offense through Kevin Garnett more. He had 4 assists, and the Knicks defense is prone to lapses where he can find holes to make the right play.
More motion. Avery Bradley is not a point guard. You can’t have him trying to execute sets every time down the floor. The Celtics need to move, move, move. Like Doc said earlier in the year when the C’s were in their “better without Rondo” mode, move the ball enough and it will find the right guy while cutting down on the live ball turnovers.
Jason Terry pick & rolls: The Celtics have no choice but to find a way to get JET going. He is going to play, and he’s going to get touches. So the Celtics need to find a way to get him the right touches. Pick & roll plays with Paul Pierce were fairly effective (not for Terry, but they were for Pierce), so keep going to it and maybe you can take advantage of Knicks adjustment to get Terry going.
Celtics defensive adjustments:
Rebound. Yeah, I know. Story of the season, right? The second half of Game 1 really turned on the Knicks’ offensive rebounding. When you hear Jeff Green talking about getting tired down the stretch, it’s mostly because the Celtics spent a lot of possessions defending for 40 or 50 seconds. It’s imperative to avoid a repeat of that.
More Bass on Carmelo Anthony. Bass played Melo very well. And playing Anthony physically can fluster him and send him into a forced “hero mode” where he forgets about his teammates. Bass has the strength to do that.
I will repeat… this is a must-win game. Jay passed along the money stat for this game: The KG-era C’s have started two series down 0-2 (2011 and 2012 vs Miami) and lost both, without home court.
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