The Celtics shut out their 6 sport street journey with a cease in Memphis to tackle the Grizzlies. That is the second, and remaining, sport between these two groups this season. The Celtics misplaced 127-121 in Boston on December 7. The Celtics are 37-20 all time towards the Grizzlies and they’re 18-10 in video games performed on the street. The Celtics had been 2-0 final season towards the Grizzlies.
This will likely be a barely totally different group than the one which the Celtics performed in December. The Grizzlies made a 3 group commerce on the deadline. They despatched former Celtic Marcus Good to the Washington Wizards and Jake LaRavia to Sacramento in trade for Marvin Bagley III and a number of other picks. Additionally they had 5 gamers on the harm record for that sport.
The largest change for the group got here simply this week. The Grizzlies fired head coach Taylor Jenkins after 6 years with the group. It’s a very odd transfer with simply 3 weeks left till the playoffs and the Grizzlies sitting in fifth place. Additionally they fired assistant coaches Noah LaRoche and Patrick St. Andrews. Assistant coach Tuomas Iisalo was promoted to interim head coach. The Grizzlies misplaced their first sport underneath his management on Saturday.
The Celtics stay 2nd within the East. They’re 4.5 video games behind 1st place Cleveland. They’re 8.5 video games forward of third place New York and 12 video games forward of 4th place Indiana. They’re 31-7 on the street and 9-1 of their final 10 video games. They’re 20-8 towards Western Convention opponents and so they have gained their final 8 video games.
The Grizzlies are fifth within the West, 18 video games behind first place Oklahoma Metropolis. They’re 1 sport behind the 4th place Lakers and a pair of.5 video games behind t3rd place Denver. They’re 1.5 video games forward of sixth place Golden State and a pair of forward of each seventh place Minnesota and the eighth place Lakers. They’re 25-12 at dwelling and 4-6 of their final 10 video games. They’re 18-9 towards Japanese Convention groups and have misplaced their final 2 video games.
The Celtics are taking part in within the remaining sport of a 6 sport Western street journey. They’ve gained the primary 5 video games on the journey and are in search of the primary 6-0 street journey in Celtics historical past. After this journey, the Celtics will play 2 at dwelling towards Miami and Phoenix. Then it’s again on the street for video games at New York and at Orlando. They are going to end the season with 2 video games towards the Charlotte Hornets at dwelling.
The Grizzlies simply completed a 5 sport street journey the place they beat Utah and misplaced to Sacramento, Portland, Oklahoma Metropolis and the Clippers. They’re taking part in within the second of a 3 sport dwelling stand. They misplaced to the Lakers on Saturday and can play the Warriors to complete the house stand. They then play at Miami, Detroit, and Charlotte earlier than one sport at dwelling towards Minnesota. They end the yr with a sport at Denver after which one at dwelling towards Dallas.
Payton Pritchard missed Saturday’s sport with with left hip flexor tightness however is predicted to be again for this sport. Al Horford missed Saturday’s sport as a consequence of a toe sprain and can be anticipated to return for this sport. Jaylen Brown performed Saturday however has been coping with proper knee posterior impingement and is questionable for this sport. If Jaylen can’t play, Sam Hauser might get the beginning in his place. Luke Kornet was a late addition with an sickness and is questionable. For Memphis, solely Brandon Clarke (knee) and Zyon Pullin (knee) are out.
Possible Celtics Starters
Grid View
Celtics ReservesAl HorfordNeemias QuetaBaylor ScheiermanJordan WalshLuke KornetTorrey CraigSam HauserPayton PritchardXavier Tillman
2 Manner PlayersJD DavisonDrew PetersonMiles Norris
Accidents/OutJaylen Brown (knee) questionable Luke Kornet (sickness) questionable
Head CoachJoe Mazzulla
Possible Grizzlies Starters
Grid View
Grizzlies Reserves Santi AldamaMarvin Bagley III Jay HuffGG Jackson II Luke KennardJohn KoncharScotty Pippen, JrLaMar StevensVince Williams, Jr
Two-Manner Gamers Zyon PullinYuki KawamuraCam Spencer
Accidents/Out Brandon Clarke (knee) out Zyon Pullin (knee) out
Head CoachTuomas Iisalo (interim)
Key Matchups
Grid View
Jrue Vacation
Photograph by Jason Miller/Getty Pictures
Ja Morant
Photograph by Justin Ford/Getty Pictures
Jrue Vacation vs Ja MorantMorant is averaging 22.3 factors, 4.2 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.2 steals per sport. He’s capturing 44.7% from the sector and 28.9% from past the arc. Within the first sport, Morant completed with 32 factors, 9 rebounds, 9 assists and a pair of steals whereas capturing 55% from the sector and 66.7% from past the arc. Morant could be very athletic and fast and so he may give the Celtics issues. They want to stick with him on protection to attempt to sluggish him down.
Grid View
Jayson Tatum
Photograph by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Pictures
Jaren Jackson, Jr
Photograph by Meg Oliphant/Getty Pictures
Jayson Tatum vs Jaren Jackson, Jr.Jackson is averaging 22.4 factors, 5.6 rebounds 2.1 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.3 steals per sport. He’s capturing 49.5% from the sector and 37.9% from past the arc. Within the first sport, Jackson completed with 27 factors, 9 rebounds, 1 help, 4 blocks and three assists whereas capturing 57.8% from the sector and 75% from past the arc. Jackson is taking part in very properly this season and is an actual menace to attain. He’s additionally a former Defensive Participant of the Yr, and can make it tough for whoever he’s guarding to attain.
Honorable point out Derrick White vs Desmond Bane Bane is averaging 18.9 factors, 6.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.2 steals per sport. He’s capturing 48.4% from the sector and 39.3% from past the arc. Within the first sport, he completed with 14 factors, 2 rebounds, 4 assists and three steals whereas capturing 41.7% from the sector and 40.1% from past the arc.
Keys to the Recreation Protection – Protection is at all times the important thing to successful. The Celtics are fifth with a defensive score of 110.3. The Grizzlies are twelfth with a defensive score of 112.6. The Grizzlies are 2nd in scoring with 122.2 factors per sport whereas the Celtics are eighth with 116.9 factors per sport. The Celtics are 1st in 3 level makes an attempt with 48.3 and eighth in 3 level proportion at 37.0%. The Grizzlies are 14th with 37.5 three level makes an attempt per sport and tenth in 3 level proportion at 36.8%. The Celtics have to protect the perimeter and in addition guard the paint because the Grizzlies are 2nd averaging 56.5 factors within the paint. Of their first assembly, the Celtics allowed the Grizzlies to shoot 50% from the sector and 45.5% from past the arc. They need to defend higher on this one in the event that they wish to win it.
Rebound – The Celtics can’t rating in the event that they don’t have the ball and to get the ball, they need to seize rebounds. The Celtics are eleventh within the league, grabbing 44.9 rebounds per sport whereas the Grizzlies are 2nd with 47.2 rebounds per sport. A lot of rebounding is effort and hustle and the Celtics have to put out extra effort than the Grizzlies in an effort to beat them to rebounds.
Play Arduous for 48 Minutes – The distinction within the Celtics wins and losses on this yr has been the quantity of effort they provide on each ends of the courtroom. The Grizzlies beat them of their first assembly by taking part in more durable. The Celtics have to be extra aggressive in going for unfastened balls, rebounds, in going to the basket and on protection. They need to decide to giving full effort from the opening tip till the ultimate buzzer. Hopefully they’ve realized from their losses and gained’t slack off on effort for even a minute on this sport. They should take cost of the sport from the opening tip till the ultimate buzzer. The Celtics have to be the harder group each bodily and mentally.
Transfer the Ball – The Celtics are powerful to beat once they preserve the ball shifting and discover the open man however when one participant over dribbles and lapses into hero ball, they falter. The Celtics are 40-2 once they have extra assists than their opponent however simply 13-16 once they have fewer assists than their opponent. Preserve the ball shifting and don’t lapse into hero ball, whether or not within the first quarter or the 4th quarter. Hero ball hardly ever works.
X-Components On the Highway and Fatigue – The Celtics are on the street for the sixth straight sport away from TD Backyard. They should get previous the distractions of journey and being away from their houses and households and so they need to preserve from being rattled by the hostile crowd. They’ve to focus on taking part in the precise approach and ignore all of the distractions. The ultimate sport of a street journey is at all times the hardest and the Celtics must be mentally powerful to get a win on this one.
Officiating – Officiating is at all times an x-factor. Some officers name the sport tight and name each little little bit of contact. Others allow them to play and permit each groups to be bodily. Some refs name it one sided for one group whereas others name it even. Some refs give the house group the good thing about the calls whereas others favor the street group or favor neither. The Celtics have to focus on taking part in their sport and never enable dangerous calls and no calls to remove from their concentrate on taking part in.
And ensure to take a look at CelticsBlog’s Playback stream for a dwell dialog in regards to the sport. To take part, simply create a free account, join your LP sub when you have it, and be part of our group.
