The Celtics look for their 8th straight win as they visit the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. This is the 4th of 5 games between these two teams this season. The Celtics are 3-0 so far, winning 108-104 in New York on 10/25, 114-98 in Boston on 11/13, and 133-123 in Boston on 12/18. They have one more game after this one on April 11.
The Celtics remain first in the East, 7.5 games ahead of 2nd place Cleveland, 8.5 games ahead of 3rd place Milwaukee, 10 games ahead of 4th place New York, 11 games ahead of 5th place Philadelphia, and 12.5 games ahead of 6th place Indiana. They are 18-9 on the road and 9-1 in their last 10 games. They are 31-6 against Eastern Conference teams and 13-1 against Atlantic Division teams. They have won their last 7 games. (Milwaukee is still playing as I write this).
The Knicks are 4th in the East, 10 games behind 1st place Boston, 2.5 games behind 2nd place Cleveland, and 1.5 game behind 3rd place Milwaukee. They are 1 games ahead of 5th place Philadelphia, 2.5 games ahead of 6th place Indiana and 3 games ahead of 7th place Orlando and having to compete in the play in games. They are 19-8 at hom and 5-5 in their last 10 games. They are 23-12 against the Eastern Conference and 7-3 against the Atlantic Division. They are coming off a win in their last game.
The Celtics are playing in their second straight game on the road. They beat the Bulls at Chicago 129-112 on Thursday. After this game, they will head home for 3 straight games at TD Garden against Philadelphia, Dallas, and Golden State. After that, they have a 5 game road trip through Cleveland, Denver, Phoenix, Portland and Utah.
The Knicks are coming off a 1-2 road trip and are playing in the first of a 4 game home stand. After this game, they will play Detroit and New Orleans back to back on Monday and Tuesday and then Golden State. Next they play at Cleveland before returning home for 4 more, hosting Atlanta, Orlando and 2 games against Philadelphia.
The Celtics have no one on the injury list at this time. For the Knicks, OG Anunoby is out after having right elbow surgery on February 8. Mitchell Robinson has missed the Knicks’ last 34 games after undergoing left ankle surgery and will miss this game as well. Julius Randle has been out since he injured his shoulder Jan. 27 and will be out for this game as well.
Probable Celtics Starters
Celtics Reserves
Oshae Brissett
Sam Hauser
Al Horford
Luke Kornet
Svi Mykhailiuk
Payton Pritchard
Jordan Walsh
Xavier Tillman
Jaden Springer
2 Way Players
JD Davison
Drew Peterson
Neemias Queta
Injuries/Out
None
Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla
Probable Knicks Starters
Knicks Reserves
Miles McBride
Alec Burks
Daquan Jeffries
Bojan Bogdanovic
Jericho Sims
Jacob Toppin
2 Way Players
Duane Washington, Jr
Charlie Brown, Jr
Injuries/Out
OG Anunoby (elbow) out
Mitchell Robinson (ankle) out
Julius Randle (shoulder) out
Miles McBride (illness) questionable
Head Coach
Tom Thibodeau
Key Matchups
Jrue Holiday vs Jalen Brunson
Brunson is averaging 27.5 points, 3.8 rebound, and 6.6 assists per game. He is shooting 47.9% from the field and 40.6% from beyond the arc. Against the Celtics this season he averaged 21.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.7 steals. He shoots a high percentage from 3 and so the Celtics have to defend him well on the perimeter.
-
Sam Hauser
Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
-
Bojan Bogdanovic
Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images
Sam Hauser vs Bojan Bogdanovic
The Knicks brought Bojan Bogdanovic over from Detroit at the deadline and he will add another sharpshooter to their team. He is averaging 19.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. He is shooting 47.1% from the field and 42.4% from beyond the arc for the season. Against the Celtics this season, he is averaging 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists per game. He will likely come off the bench for the Knicks and so the Celtics will need their second unit to keep him off the 3 point line and off the boards.
Honorable Mention
Derrick White vs Donte DiVincenzo
DiVincenzo is averaging 13.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He is shooting 45.6% from the field and 41.4% from beyond the arc. He has struggled against the Celtics this season averaging only 3.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game while shooting just 25% from the field and 25% from beyond the arc.
Keys to the Game
Defense – Defense is the key to winning every game. The Knicks average 114.4 points per game (17th) while the Celtics average 120.8 points per game (5th). The Celtics have a defensive rating of 110.6 (2nd) while the Knicks have a defensive rating of 112.8 (7th). Both teams want to be defensive minded but both teams forget their defensive identity from time to time. The Celtics have got to make defense a priority and play tougher team defense than the Knicks if they hope to get a win in this game.
Rebound – The Celtics can’t score if they don’t have the ball, and the best way to get the ball is to grab rebounds. The Celtics need to rebound as a team with every Celtic battling on the boards. It will take a team effort to beat the Knicks, who are 4th in the league in rebounding with 45.8 per game. The Celtics are 1st with 47.1 rebounds per game but tend to get lazy against physical teams that fight for rebounds. The Knicks are tied for first with 16.6 second chance points per game and so the Celtics need to crash the boards to prevent giving the Knicks extra points in this game.
Move the Ball Carefully – The Celtics need to move the ball and find teammates for the best shots available. They play their best when the ball is moving and they are finding the open man. They struggle when the ball sticks and players try to do too much and play iso ball. However, they need to make careful passes because the Knicks average 16.5 points off turnovers per game and if the Celtics get sloppy, they will make them pay.
Be Aggressive – The Celtics need to be the more aggressive team. They have to be more aggressive in going after loose balls, in grabbing rebounds, in defending, and in going to the basket. They need to hustle and be aggressive for 48 minutes every game but especially against the Knicks because Thibs has them playing hard every game. They can win a lot of games by playing harder than their opponents and they can lose a lot of games by allowing their opponents to be the team that plays harder.
Play All Out 48 Minutes – The Knicks are playing without key players and too often the Celtics play with less than 100% effort when facing a team weakened by injuries. They did that against the Lakers with 2 stars out and they lost a game they should have won. They can’t afford to do that if they want to win this game. They have to play hard from the opening tip until the final buzzer and not allow the Knicks to out-work them for any stretch during the game.
X-Factors
On the Road Again – The Celtics are playing their 2nd straight game on the road. 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. Even in just their 2nd straight road game, teams can get road weary and the Celtics have to fight against that by staying focused on playing hard and getting a win.
Officiating – Officiating always has the potential to be an x-factor. Each officiating crew calls the game differently. Some refs call it tight and constantly call fouls while others let them play with few fouls called. 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.
And make sure to check out CelticsBlog’s Playback stream for a live conversation about the game. To participate, just create a free account, connect your LP sub if you have it, and join our community!
