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8 days ago

Paul Pierce’s Contract: Dispelling The Myths and Stating The Facts

The first domino to fall this offseason is Paul Pierce’s contract. Until Danny Ainge figures out what he’s doing there, little else matters. As we wait for this decision, we also must face the rest of the offseason, which means it is also rumor season. With that time of year, comes plenty of information floating [...]

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8 days ago

Final Grade: Avery Bradley (C+)

In his third year in the league, in which promising players often make brash leaps from benchwarmer to starter, from starter to star, Avery Bradley took a big step back. But his regression might be deceptive. When he returned to the Celtics’ lineup on January the 2nd after two in-season months recovering from offseason shoulder [...]

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9 days ago

Danny Ainge Expects Doc Rivers & Kevin Garnett To Return, Unsure About Paul Pierce

A long, challenging offseason awaits Danny Ainge this summer. Before he dives in head first, he joined Salk and Holley on WEEI-FM 93.7 to discuss the multitude of decisions facing him this offseason, as well as the progress of Rajon Rondo in his rehab from ACL surgery. A few of the notable highlights from the interview. Ainge [...]

11
9 days ago

Suns Hire Away Celtics’ Assistant GM Ryan McDonough

In one way or another, there will be change this offseason in Boston. That process started in the past couple days, with the first piece moving out coming as a name most C’s fans might not be familiar with. Yet, it was Celtics’ assistant general manager Ryan McDonough, one of Danny Ainge’s top lieutenants, who [...]

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10 days ago

Doc Rivers Finishes 13th in Coach of the Year Voting

It was a tough season for the Boston Celtics, and that includes for head coach Doc Rivers. The long-time coach battled to find the right fit for a lot of new pieces that were both underperforming and/or failed to pick up his schemes on both ends of the floor. Naturally, an unfortunate plethora of injuries [...]

23
11 days ago

Overconfident Answers To Offseason Questions (Part 1)

It seems like every offseason since 2010 we’ve been through this: a myriad of questions and concerns about the Celtics’ roster that usually involve the possibility of the core of the team being dismantled. As we head into the summer of 2013, we’ve got a whole batch of questions, many of which will be familiar.  [...]

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Game 53: Celtics (28-24) @ Nuggets (33-21) Open Thread

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2011/0224/bos_g_pierce_b1_576.jpgBoston at Denver
9:00 P.M. ET
Pepsi Center

CSNNE/NBATV

Offensive Efficiency:
Boston: 100.1 points/100 possessions (23rd)
Denver:
106.5 points/100 possessions (5th)

Defensive Efficiency:
Boston: 99.2 points allowed/100 possessions (5th)
Denver:
102.6 points allowed/100 possessions (13th)

Probable Nuggets Starters:
Ty Lawson (PG), Andre Iguodala (SG), Danilo Gallinari (SF), Kenneth Faried (PF), and Kosta Koufos (C)

View From The Opposing Bench: Roundball Mining Company

Thumbnail: Heading into Tuesday night, both the Celtics and Nuggets are riding seven-game home winning streaks. Unfortunately for Boston, this game is being played in Denver, and the Nuggets have the league’s third-best winning percentage at home. In addition, Ty Lawson joined some impressive company the last time he saw the Celtics on February 10. He went for 29 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds in the triple-overtime contest at TD Garden. Before Lawson, the last four players to reach those plateaus in a game against the Celtics were Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Kevin Garnett.

The Celtics will hope to prevent Lawson this time around as well as keep the points in the paint margin from getting out of hand. Boston was somewhat lucky to escape with the victory just over a week ago against Denver because the Nuggets scoring 62 points in the paint while the Celtics only got 30 of their own in the key. Since the Nuggets’ interior scoring is very strong, the Celtics will have to shoot a much better percentage than they have recently in order to stem the tide.

In their first six games since Rajon Rondo’s ACL injury, the Celtics shot nearly 50% from the field. However, the team’s field goal percentage has plummeted to worse than 40% over their last three games. Although it is a small sample size, the recent trend for the Celtics offense has been a heavy reliance on three-pointers, which usually means tired legs. What benefits the currently shallow Boston roster is that the players have had an important five-day resting period with the All-Star break. The Celtics have won their last four games when playing on at least three days rest, so hopefully they are able to extend that streak.

Prediction: The Celtics sweep the season series from the Nuggets for the first time since the 2003-04 season.

Celtics 95, Nuggets 94

For more Celtics coverage and pertinent statistics, follow Celtics Hub and Stats Adam Lowenstein on Twitter: @CelticsHub and @StatsAdam

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