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5 days ago

Painful Reminders (Part I): The Celtics Drafted JaJuan Johnson Instead of Jimmy Butler

On June 23rd, 2011, Brian Robb and I stood around a high top bar table in Tommy Doyle’s in Kendall Square.  Before us lay one of the biggest mounds of buffalo chicken wings I had ever endeavor to make disappear.  These 25 cent flappers- one of the few indulgences afforded to the participants of our [...]

16
6 days ago

Chris Wilcox: 2012-13 Final Grade

There are a number of contextually-appropriate ways to craft this post. One would be to forgo words entirely, and represent Chris Wilcox’s entire season with a series of videos. That would involve one part of this: For every eight parts of this: Note the headline on that second clip. Someone was so amused/enraged by Wilcox’s [...]

12
7 days ago

Rajon Rondo’s 2012-13 Final Grade

Here’s a sweeping general statement involving super specific statistics that may or may not mean anything: In the 1423 minutes Rajon Rondo played this season, the Boston Celtics were outscored by 1.3 points per 100 possessions. When he sat (including all contests after he tore his ACL), Boston was better than their opponents by 1.8 [...]

92
7 days ago

Avery Bradley Elected to NBA All-Defense Second Team

Avery Bradley has been a standout defender for the past couple seasons…in the regular season anyway. Now he has a trophy to prove it. The NBA announced this afternoon that the third-year guard has been elected by coaches around the league to the second-team all-NBA defensive team for the first time in his career. Bradley [...]

13
11 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 [...]

42
11 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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Game 66: Heat (51-14) @ Celtics (36-29) Open Thread

http://celticshub.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Celtics-Big-Three.jpgMiami at Boston
8:00 P.M. ET
TD Garden

ESPN/CSNNE

Offensive Efficiency:
Boston: 100.4 points/100 possessions (22nd)
Miami:
110.5 points/100 possessions (2nd)

Defensive Efficiency:
Boston: 99.3 points allowed/100 possessions (4th)
Miami:
 101.0 points allowed/100 possessions (9th)

Probable Heat Starters:
Mario Chalmers (PG), Dwyane Wade (SG), LeBron James (SF), Udonis Haslem (PF), and Chris Bosh (C)

View From The Opposing Bench: Heat Index

UPDATE: Kevin Garnett is out due to the flu. 

Thumbnail: On Saturday, the Celtics hosted the 14-51 Charlotte Bobcats. On Monday, it is the 51-14 Miami Heat going to TD Garden. Miami is finally playing like the team that most people projected when LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined forces with Dwyane Wade in South Beach in 2010. Since the Celtics defeated the Heat on January 27 of this season, Miami has won 23 of its last 24 games. After falling to the Pacers in Indiana on February 1, the Heat has pulled off 10 consecutive wins away from home. Miami now gets to test this streak against the only other team over the last five seasons to win 10 straight road games.

Moreover, the Celtics have a current winning streak of their own heading into Monday’s game: they have won their last 11 home games. While Boston’s streak may not be as impressive as the Heat’s ones, seven of those 11 wins for the Celtics at TD Garden have come against current playoff teams. In addition, the first win of those 11 was the double-overtime victory against Miami. Since LeBron signed with the Heat, Miami has still yet to win in the regular season in Boston. The Heat’s Big Three have traveled there for five games and have lost all five times.

The Celtics will also hope that they can make it a perfect 11-0 record against the Heat in regular season games at home in the Kevin Garnett era. Garnett has already missed three of the 10 previous meetings between the Celtics and Heat in Beantown, and he may miss Monday night’s game due to a strained adductor. Whether Garnett is active or inactive, the Celtics hope to be giant killers for the second time. Five years ago on March 18, 2008, the Celtics stopped the Rockets’ 22-game winning streak with Ray Allen inactive with a sore ankle. On March 18, 2013, the Celtics hope to stop yet another 22-game winning streak. This time, Allen will fight to make that streak continue.

Prediction: Miami does what Houston could not and moves its streak to 23 games. In doing so, LeBron wins his first regular season game at Boston since moving to South Beach.

Heat 100, Celtics 94

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

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