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| Kevin Garnett will have his hands full with Mr. Lob City himself, Blake Griffin. |
A lot has happened since these two last saw each other. Los Angeles had the best record in the Western Conference, and the Celtics were in the midst of a grueling West Coast swing that saw them struggle with the likes of the Sacramento Kings.
Just over a month later, these two reacquaint themselves, but they look a lot different than last time. For Boston, Avery Bradley is back, but Rajon Rondo and Jared Sullinger are gone. For Los Angeles, Chris Paul is out, Jamal Crawford may be out, and Grant Hill is back.
Chris Paul did not practice on Saturday and will sit out today's game with a nagging knee bruise. Paul hurt his knee on January 12, and has only played in 2 of the last 11 games after reaggravating the injury. In his absence, the Clippers are a respectable 5-4, but have lost 4 of their last, including an ugly loss in Toronto to the Raptors on Friday night, 93-78.
The Clippers' backcourt received another big blow after Jamal Crawford suffered a nasal fracture in Friday night's loss. He had x-rays that revealed the fracture, and when asked if he would play against the Celtics, he responded, "We will see." He is listed as a game-time decision.
The Celtics will be without their starting point guard as well, but they've done well in his absence. The Celtics are 3-0 since Rondo went down for the season. Can they keep it up? We'll find out in this Super Bowl Sunday matinee between the Celtics (23-23) and the third-best team in the NBA, the Los Angeles Clippers (34-14).
Here's a preview:
Projected lineups:
Clippers:
Eric Bledsoe
Willie Green
Caron Butler
Blake Griffin
DeAndre Jordan
Celtics:
Courtney Lee
Avery Bradley
Paul Pierce
Brandon Bass
Kevin Garnett
Keys to the game:
1. Limit turnovers: During their three-game winning streak, Boston hasn't exactly done a good job of taking care of the ball. The Celtics have averaged 16.7 turnovers per game, which is sixth-worst in the league in that span. In their last meeting on December 27, Boston had 18 turnovers to Los Angeles' 8. L.A. scored 26 points off Boston's turnovers while the Celtics only scored 7 points off of Clipper turnovers. Meanwhile, the Clippers have done an adequate job of taking care of the ball in Chris Paul's absence. They're averaging a so-so 13.5 turnovers per game in their last six games. Even still, Los Angeles is a very good fastbreak team, so giving them extra opportunities to get easy baskets is not a recipe for success.
2. Make them earn it: Both teams are very efficient on the offensive end -- Boston is 7th in the NBA in field-goal percentage at 45.9% while Los Angeles is 4th at 47.1%. Boston is 7th in the league in scoring defense, giving up 95.9 points per contest, while Los Angeles sits 4th at 93.4 per game. So something has to give. What is the x-factor? Free-throw shooting. Boston is 8th in the league at 78.0% while Los Angeles is in the bottom fifth of the league at 70.6%. Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Lamar Odom, three of the Clippers' top contributors, are not exactly the best free throw shooters in the game, so instead of letting them be comfortable and score on easy drives to the hoop and alley-oops, make them earn the two points instead. It'll be worthwhile.
3. Controlling the paint: Los Angeles is second in the league in points in the paint, averaging 46.2 and second to only Denver (56.3). The Clippers dominated the paint in their last meeting with the Celtics (42-26). With no Jared Sullinger, the Celtics need a collective effort to keep Los Angeles out of the paint. It may be difficult for the Clippers to facilitate without their All-Star point guard, but the Celtics have to do their job up front to limit dribble penetration by the Clippers. . Kevin Garnett won't be able to do it on his own, so look for Chris Wilcox to get some big minutes, as he will try to minimize what the bigs can do. Also, Brandon Bass needs to be a big factor in today's game. He has to step up and perform the way he did last season in order to lead the Celtics to victory.
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