Take Two: Celtics @ Memphis preview

Posted by Brian Robb on Mar 21, 2009 9000 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2009%2F03%2F21%2Ftake-two-celtics-memphis-preview%2FTake+Two%3A+Celtics+%40+Memphis+preview2009-03-21+19%3A06%3A20Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D900

Boston at Memphis
8pm CSN/NBA TV

Celtics: 52-18 (24-12 on the road); Off. Eff. 110.6 (5th); Def. Eff. (101.9–1st)

Grizzlies: 17-51 (12-23 at home); Off. Eff. 102.9 (29th); Def. Eff. (109.8–21st)

It is always a treat to face one of the worst teams in the league twice in eight nights. The Celtics will have that opportunity tonight when they lock horns with Memphis one week after grinding out a 102-92 win against the Grizz.

This young Memphis team put up a good fight against the shorthanded Celts in that one, remaining within shouting distance for three quarters before the Green pulled away in the final frame behind the career night of Leon Powe.

I touched upon the Grizzlies’ poor play this season in my preview of last week’s match up but just to reiterate, Memphis is an extremely young basketball team (average age of starting lineup: 22) that is still trying to mesh and figure out how to compete in this league. They have a lot of potential given their youth and talent but they certainly will need a few years of seasoning to become a threat to make the playoffs in the west.

The growing pains have been especially painful in the last month as the Grizz have lost three in a row while going 2-15 in their last 17 games. Their record during that stretch is somewhat deceptive as they have been playing better in the past week or two. After sticking around with the C’s last Friday, they pulled out an impressive five point win in Detroit on Sunday.

They have lost three straight since then but hung and remained competitive for much of those three games against elite western conference foes (Denver, Portland, New Orleans) before collapsing in the fourth quarter of those contests. The inability to close out those teams are a telltale sign of a inexperienced squad but the Celtics have shown the tendency to play down to weak competition like the Grizz this season, especially on the road.

Luckily for the C’s a lot of those tough road losses against poor teams came without the Big Ticket in the lineup, which likely will not be the case tonight. Doc Rivers gave no indication of whether we will see KG tonight for the 2nd half of the back to back, but given he only played 15 minutes last night and appeared to have no setbacks with his knee, I can hope we will see a similar performance tonight from the big guy. Given the Celtics lack of healthy big men at the moment, any kind of minutes KG can provide is vital for the team at this juncture.

The key for the Green tonight is really to ride the momentum from last night’s win and set the tone early on while Garnett is getting his minutes in. As I mentioned before, inferior competition have been getting up for their home games with the defending champs all season long. The champs have lacked the intensity and focus in these games to get out to a strong start and crush any chance poor teams like Memphis have of competing with the Green.

As the Celtics conclude a brutal week with their fifth game in seven nights, building a large early lead would be pivotal in allowing Doc to give Paul Pierce and Ray Allen some legitimate rest. The two both logged 39 minutes last night and due to the fact nothing has come easy for the C’s in the past month, Rivers has had limited opportunities to give them a real blow over that stretch.

With some additional reinforcements in place since last week’s meeting between these teams, the Green should have a good chance to take care of business early on tonight. Hopefully they can then get some rest before gearing up for another tough week (games in Atlanta and Orlando) that will be crucial in deciding the team’s playoff seed. They must be careful not to sleep on this Memphis team though who have the potential to pull off an upset tonight if they play a complete 48 minutes of basketball.