Game is Wednesday, 6:30 CST.
This was out before tonight's game, has some Celtics quotes.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/swansea/s...-red-hot-SpursCelts host red-hot Spurs
By Jim Fenton
They began the season in late October overshadowed by other teams in their respective conferences.
For the Boston Celtics, they watched as all the preseason attention in the Eastern Conference was focused on the Miami Heat with their high-priced acquisitions.
For the San Antonio Spurs, they were out of the Western Conference spotlight being dominated by the two-time NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.
Ten weeks into the season, though, the Celtics and Spurs reside atop their conferences.
Tonight, the teams with the two best records in the league will square off when the Spurs make their annual visit to the TD Garden to face the Celtics (7:30 p.m.).
A good deal of the luster from the matchup was taken away last week when Kevin Garnett suffered a strained calf muscle, and he will be watching on television from the locker room.
The Celtics will be at an obvious disadvantage without Garnett as they try to deal with a team that was 29-4 with 14 wins in its last 15 games entering Tuesday night’s road game with the New York Knicks.
While the Celtics have gotten off to a 26-7 start — putting them just ahead of the hard-charging Heat in the East — despite losing 102 man-games to injuries, the Spurs have been a surprise in the opening two months.
Like the Celtics, the Spurs were 50-32 during the regular season last year. While the Celtics got their act together and made it to the NBA Finals, the Spurs were swept by the Phoenix Suns in the second round.
It looked like Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker might have made their final run together, but just like that, the Spurs are back among the leading contenders to win the le.
They are 19-2 at home and entered Tuesday night with a 10-2 road mark. The Spurs are averaging better than 105 points per game with Ginobili (18.7), Parker (17.7 with 7.1 assists) and Duncan (13.6, 9.4 rebounds) leading the way.
Richard Jefferson has rebounded from a tough season and is scoring 13.4 points while DeJuan Blair is starting at center and contributes 7.3 points and 6.5 rebounds.
“One of the best teams in the league,’’ said Celtics center Shaquille O’Neal. “We are going to have our hands full. Against a team like that, you’ve got to do everything right.’’
The only losses suffered by the Spurs have come against the New Orleans Hornets on Oct. 30, the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 26, the Los Angeles Clippers on Dec. 1 and the Orlando Magic on Dec. 23.
The Celtics have struggled without Garnett and with Rajon Rondo returning from a severe ankle sprain, and a dose of inconsistency will cost them dearly against the Spurs.
“We can’t have a bad start,’’ said Ray Allen. “We can’t come out and think we’ll get back in the game. They have the best record in the league for a reason.
‘They play well at home and on the road. We have to come out and we have to execute. We have to know our personnel and take away the stuff they do well.’’
The Spurs are winning with regularity despite having Duncan play less than 30 minutes a game. They have nine players averaging at least seven points per game, giving Coach Gregg Popovich plenty of options.
“They improved their team with younger players who are being productive,’’ said Allen. “I’m looking at their roster and I’m watching them play and some guys I don’t know, but they’re in there for a substantial amount of time and are very productive.
“They are subscribing to Popovich’s philosophies. They’re able to give Tim Duncan a lot of rest. He’s not playing a lot of minutes and offensively he’s not producing what he’s done over his career because he’s got other guys stepping up and playing well for them.’’
The Celtics have won five of their last seven games against the Spurs after dropping 18 in a row from March 1997-January 2007.
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...-celtics-26-7/Wednesday: Spurs (29-5) at Celtics (26-7)
Jeff McDonald
...Spurs are 2-4 against Boston since arrival of Garnett and Allen prior to 2007-08 season, but have won two straight at TD Banknorth Garden. … Celtics are 2-1 since Garnett was hurt, having won consecutive games over Toronto and Minnesota. …
I don't have a good feeling about this game.
Havent the Spurs done well lately in Boston in the Duncan era? I think the Spurs are a better matchup for Boston than the Knicks.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview?gid=2011010502San Antonio (29-5) at Boston (26-7)
Tipoff: 7:30 pm EST Wed Jan 5, 2011
TV: FSSW, CSNE
By Jeff Bartl
Doc Rivers insisted Paul Pierce shoot more in Boston’s most recent victory. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich didn’t seem to have the same confidence in his stars down the stretch of a tough loss.
The NBA’s two top teams, the Celtics and Spurs meet Wednesday night in a matchup that should present a contrast in styles.
Popovich has guided San Antonio to four NBA championships focusing mainly on defense. However, the Spurs (29-5) are scoring 105.6 points per game this season, good for fourth in the league. Their high-scoring offense sometimes causes opponents to play a more fast-paced game, which New York took advantage of Tuesday in a 129-115 home victory over San Antonio.
The 129 points allowed were a season high for the Spurs, who allowed New York to shoot 55 percent.
“If we score 115 points, I expect to win,” Popovich sad. “Our defense was pathetic. It was our worst defense of the year. Nothing else tricky about it.”
The coach yanked Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker from the game with the Knicks leading by 10 and three minutes remaining - possibly still enough time for a comeback. Parker scored 26 points, Ginobili finished with 15 and Duncan had 14 while shooting 5 of 14 from the field.
“I asked them if they wouldn’t mind maybe playing a little bit better (Wednesday). They said they’d think about it,” Popovich said. “We’ll see what happens.”
The Spurs have bounced back nicely from their other four losses, winning the subsequent four contests by an average of nearly 11 points. They haven’t dropped consecutive games since getting swept by Phoenix in the second round of last spring’s playoffs.
The San Antonio offense figures to be tested by the Celtics, who are allowing an NBA-low 90.8 points per game. However, the Spurs have won 14 of their last 16 visits to Boston (26-7), which has won two straight with Rajon Rondo back in the lineup.
Boston went 4-3 while Rondo sat out with a right leg injury. Paul Pierce, who sarcastically said he forgot the starting point guard had returned, attempted to spread the ball around rather than shoot it himself in the first half of a 96-93 victory Monday against Minnesota.
“I thought Paul in the first half tried way too hard to get everybody involved,” Rivers said. “I told Paul, `You don’t need to be the playmaker. We need you to score.”
Pierce took a more aggressive approach in the second half and finished with 23 points. Rondo had 16 assists.
Pierce’s scoring has become more important since Kevin Garnett’s right leg injury, which is expected to sideline the power forward for at least another week. Pierce has averaged only 11.7 points in his last three games against San Antonio.
Despite their lack of success against the Spurs at home, the Celtics have won five of the last seven overall in the series after losing 18 straight from 1997-2007.
*********************
Team Stat Leaders
Points
Manu Ginobili SA 18.7
Paul Pierce Bos 19.0
Rebounds
Tim Duncan SA 9.4
Kevin Garnett Bos 9.5
Assists
Tony Parker SA 7.1
Rajon Rondo Bos 13.6
Goddamn someone says that about every game. Some of you need to realize it's a sport, and we are leading the league. Stop being so paranoid and pathetic and just root for your team.
Good grief.. you guys sound like my ing wife:
"I think there's someone in the house"
Me: "No, there's not... we have an alarm system"
Her: "are you sure? I don't feel comfortable now"
Me: "well ...look at the monitor... do you see anyone?"
Her: "No, but I still don't feel comfortable"
Me: " it, I will go clear every ing room again"
The Celtics are pretty banged up and they are much slower than the Spurs. Besides, if I know my Spurs correctly, they will come out tomorrow with better energy than they had tonight because that was an embarrassment.
This game shouldnt be deemed an automatic loss. The Spurs should come out fighting.
Though they are fast, the Spurs still run a lot of half court sets and they need time to set up on defense.
Just chalk this one up as a loss, you gots.
this is a auto loss, lack of energy last night
dont bother playing the starters pop, i know u going to pull the white flag
http://bostonherald.com/sports/baske...rts&position=3Tim Duncan, Spurs a likable bunch
Not a hated rivalry
By Steve Bulpett
Boston Herald Sports Reporter
The teams with the best records in their respective conferences will meet tonight and, in a stunning blow to those who manufacture bright lights and hype, neither LeBron James nor Kobe Bryant will be in the building.
You’ll just have to settle for good basketball. Please accept the apologies of the prime-time gods.
The Celtics still aren’t near full capacity because of injury (two of their starters and a key reserve remain out), but their group approach to problem solving has landed them at 26-7. The Spurs rolled into New York last night with a best-in-league 29-4 record.
Putting aside the drama the Lakers or Heat could bring to June, Boston-San Antonio may well be the best pure Finals matchup available. The Celts would sign up for it in a heartbeat.
The only problem from a Green point of view is the economic hit to the T-shirt makers who spur their sales with venomous verbiage. It is, alas, hard to spur against the Spurs.
“You can hate a lot of teams for a lot of different reasons, but not that team,” said Jermaine O’Neal. “They don’t talk. They don’t say much. They just go out and play and win games. You admire that as a player.”
The Celtics love to work themselves into a lather, finding reasons to revile their opponents. Kevin Garnett leaves no motivational stone unturned. “Hey, that mascot looked at me funny.”
But nobody doesn’t like the San Antonio Spurs.
“Yeah, because they go about their business quietly and just kick everybody’s (butt),” said Paul Pierce, smiling as he spoke. “They don’t say anything. They just stay under the radar and win.”
Tim Duncan may be the most unassuming superstar the NBA has ever seen, while Tony Parker has received more attention for his marriage and divorce, and Manu Ginobili plays with the poise of an international jewel thief. The last Spur to draw ire was Bruce Bowen, and people didn’t seem to mind his dirty fouls so much when he was committing them against Kobe.
Now San Antonio simply pounds you politely. The Spurs play hard, and Gregg Popovich has to be one of the more aggressive wine connoisseurs in existence, but they are all more professional than promotional.
“I think people like the way they play, and I think we play the game the same way,” said Doc Rivers. “I think people like them because they’re good people, No. 1. And I think they like them also because they all try to play team basketball. They all buy into the system. There are no selfish guys, no agenda players on their team. They are the most high-character team in the league. I think people like that. They appreciate that.
“It comes from two people. It comes from Tim Duncan and it comes from Gregg Popovich. They’re both just classy, quiet human beings. They’re humble; they do their jobs, and they do it with confidence. But they’re humble about it.”
“I like them for a lot of reasons,” Rivers went on. “One, because of the group of guys they have with the players and Pop, and, two, because they’re another team that can attack the Lakers.
“So I like them in a lot of ways,” he added with a laugh.
The Spurs have altered their course somewhat, using Duncan a bit less, but, perhaps, more effectively.
Keep Reading...
Last edited by duncan228; 01-05-2011 at 01:41 AM.
That was a great article.
wonder if RJ is taking notes?“You can hate a lot of teams for a lot of different reasons, but not that team,” said Jermaine O’Neal. “They don’t talk. They don’t say much. They just go out and play and win games. You admire that as a player.”
“Yeah, because they go about their business quietly and just kick everybody’s (butt),” said Paul Pierce, smiling as he spoke. “They don’t say anything. They just stay under the radar and win.”
“Classy, quiet human beings. They’re humble; they do their jobs, and they do it with confidence. But they’re humble about it.”
Great article. You know the Spurs will play hungrier than last night. It wasn't fun to watch, but the Knicks had more fire...plain and simple.
Timothy may have secured a place in a nursing home but the 'Big Ticket' already has half a foot in the crypt.
The Spurs will win by the square root of 16.
Look for Tony Parker to take advantage of Rondo's gambling style of defense and rust. We may also see a Splitter sighting as the Celtics boast one of the biggest, slowest frontlines in the NBA.
I hope the 'Brazillian dream' fills our subsconsious thoughts with merriment and arousal.
If we can't even beat the Clippers on a road B2B....
On the bright side though, maybe last night's loss will fire this team up for the rest of the month...because I honestly can't imagine the D getting any worse. Nowhere to go but up.
And the Celtics don't spread the floor nearly as much as the Knicks, Magic, or even the Clippers so it'll be easier guarding them especially without KG.
Pretty sure we bounce back with a solid performance. Spurs win a close 1
From today's Boston Globe:
Keep reading...http://www.boston.com/sports/basketb...eeting/?page=1High-level meeting
Are the Celtics the Spurs North? Or are the Spurs the Celtics South? Each should be flattered by the comparison.
Root for a Lakers-Heat NBA Finals if you must. That would put you firmly in the majority of NBA fans worldwide. And it would be appealing, no doubt.
That’s not the Finals I want. I want the Finals featuring the Big Fundamental vs. the Big Ticket. I want the Finals with a point guard battle between the elegant Frenchman vs. the Next Great Thing. I want the Finals ed by a confrontation between the two cagiest combination games of the ’50s and the 21st century, one belonging to an Argentine and the other to a guy from Inglewood who now plays with an Old Celtics soul.
We even would have a meeting between Shaq and mini-Shaq (DeJuan Blair).
The Spurs are in town tonight, and that is cause for celebration. It always was going to be an enticing matchup, but it’s safe to say that nobody foresaw the Spurs arriving here on the fifth of January with a 29-5 record. It is being done in typical San Antonio fashion, which is to say that there are very few Spurs sightings on ESPN’s daily list of top 10 highlight plays. About all they ever get is another somber report testifying to another methodical conquest of another NBA foe.
That, of course, is how Gregg Popovich likes it. The only coaching graduate of a service academy (Air Force ’70) in NBA history isn’t much for on-court histrionics. He insists that his players play the game straight and exhibit proper behavior. One Dennis Rodman was enough.
Great article almost everyone says the same about the spurs EXCEPT maybe the Mavs and the Suns ...
But i laugh that Doc compares the two teams ... Celts play great team ball (like the Spurs) but it comes with lots of trash-talk, thuggery -bagness as well.
I dont mind trash-talk just saying ...doc with everyone likes "how we play" is taking it a bit far ...
we win this one. It's written.
http://www.nba.com/news/referee.html
Referee Assignments
Wed. Jan. 5
San Antonio @ Boston: Bill Kennedy; Brent Barnaky; John Goble
Advanced Scouting: San Antonio Spurs at Boston Celtics
by Scott Sereday
48 Minutes of
http://www.48minutesof .com/spurs...boston-celtics
Boston media all kinds of excited.
*********************Celtics, Spurs put their own stamps on winning
By A. Sherrod Blakely
CSNNE.com
BOSTON — The current NBA standings look like a blast from the not-so-distant past.
The San Antonio Spurs (29-5) are rocking the best record out West, while the Boston Celtics (26-7) are holding it down in the East.
With the Los Angeles Lakers looking for a third straight NBA le and the revamped Miami Heat garnering most of the headlines this summer, to see the Spurs and Celtics atop the NBA landscape is a bit surprising.
The way they've done it?
Even more unexpected.
Regardless of the different methods used by both teams, there are a couple of fundamental building blocks to success that each has employed to remain on the short list of NBA le contenders.
Keep Reading...
*********************Celtics-Spurs preview: Celts expect a challenge
By Jessica Camerato
CSNNE.com
The Boston Celtics will face one of their biggest tests this season when they battle the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday. The Spurs hold the best record in the NBA, and the Celtics are ready for a challenge.
Shaquille O’Neal
“They’re one of the best teams in the league and we’re going to have our hands full. Against a team like that, you’ve got to do everything right . . . [They pose] major challenges. We match up with them very well, they match up with us very well. The team that plays the hardest and gets all the loose balls and gets all the rebounds is the team that’s probably going to win.”
Ray Allen
“We can’t have a bad start. We can’t come out and think that we’ll get back in the game, or we’ll kind of slow roll this into playing good basketball. They’ve got the best record in the league and for a reason. They play well at home and on the road. So we have to come out and we have to execute, we’ve got to know our personnel, and we’ve got to make sure we take away the easy stuff.”
Nate Robinson
“They’re rolling. They’re playing well. I’ve watched a couple of their games and they’ve got everybody clicking on all cylinders. They’re just a team that’s been together for a long time, and then they’ve got a couple new pieces - [Gary] Neal knocking down the shot - you’ve got the Red Rocket [Matt Bonner] over there, he’s knocking down shots, playing the way they’ve been playing. The team chemistry is awesome. So a team like that coming in, we’ve just got to match their intensity and just play our game and we’ll be fine.”
Delonte West
“They’re one of those teams to beat. They’re playing Spurs basketball, and they’re playing at their top level, a championship level. It’ll be a good midseason test for us and for them also. But we’re not at full strength, I think they may not be, so depending on how many guys we have out there or who’s going to be able to go, it might not be a strong indication of who’s the better team right now. But it’s all still a good matchup for both teams . . . I’ll be watching on the bench.”
Marquis Daniels
“They’re a good team. They play hard and they’re rolling right now. They’re doing a lot of great things . . . It’s a good matchup for us. We’ve just got to go out there and continue to do what we’ve been doing best -- getting after it on the defensive end, getting easy baskets.”
Von Wafer
“It’s going to be a good game and I’m excited because it’s going to tell us a lot about ourselves. It’s a big measuring stick for what we’re trying to accomplish and what we need to work on. I think they’re going to expose any weaknesses we have, and that’s a good thing so we can work on them and get them stronger.”
Luke Harangody
“I think just top to bottom, they’ve got a deep squad. They’ve got a number of veteran players that know how to win. There’s a lot of other talk going on, but year after year the Spurs are a quality team, a playoff team.”
http://www.csnne.com/01/05/11/Celtic...76&feedID=3352
*********************A heckler's guide to the Spurs
By Rich Levine
CSNNE.com
It’s been three-and-a-half seasons now since the Celtics regained their NBA relevancy, and in that time they’ve birthed more rivalries than Shaq has nicknames.
There's the Lakers (of course), the Pistons, Hawks, Magic, Cavs, Bulls, Bucks, Knicks and Heat, just to name a ton. Basically, since the day KG made the move from Minnesota, half the league has at one point considered themselves Celtic’ rivals. It’s apparently the cool thing to do. Or maybe they just bring that out in people. Or maybe . . . I don’t know.
But I do know that when making out that excessive list, you can’t include the Spurs — and that’s disappointing, if not completely understandable.
On one hand, what are you going to do?
Keep Reading...
Celtics-Spurs brings buzz to Boston
By Peter May
Special to ESPNBoston.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nba...ter&id=5990080
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