Final: Celtics 134, Timberwolves 112 - C's throttle another good team

GAME 76
Boston Celtics (46-28, 25-12 home, T-2nd East) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (43-32, 18-19 road, 7th West)
TD GARDEN
6:00 PM - NBC Sports Boston 

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

Boston: Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Grant Williams, Robert Williams

Minnesota: Anthony Edwards, Patrick Beverly, D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Karl-Anthony Towns

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Al Horford is out due to personal reasons.

“We will give him the time he needs to take care of his personal stuff,” Ime Udoka said. “It could be today, tomorrow, I'm not sure exactly. We'll give him the time that's needed.”

- Tatum and Brown are both experiencing some right knee soreness, but will play. 

“Patella Tendonitis flare up,” Udoka explained. “Things they've been dealing a little bit throughout the season.”

The team will monitor them but don’t be shocked if either of them gets some time off soon. 

“Everything will be based on that and how guys feel after tonight's game, knowing that it's a back-to-back and they do have some lingering stuff going on,” Udoka said, later adding “you still want to play them in games to prepare them but a 28 minute game is not really a night off. We'd like to shave them down as much as we can and help our other guys get acclimated that we got at the trade deadline. I think it's all beneficial if we can lower that as well as help the other guys. That's the game-by-game basis, kind of in the flow of the game. We're not going in predetermining anything but see how the game plays out if other guys are playing well. 

- Malik Beasley (ankle) and Jaden McDaniels (ankle) are out for Minnesota.

- Karl-Anthony Towns over his last 20 games (via Basketball Reference)

Offensive Rating: 127

Defensive Rating: 109

True Shooting Percentage: .670

The Timberwolves are 14-6 over that span and are currently 0.5 games behind Denver for 6th place in the West.

- Boston is favored by 6.  

GOING A LITTLE DEEPER 

- Boston is (potentially) playing for first place

The Celtics are currently a half game out of first. The Sixers and Heat are tied at the top, with Philly percentage points ahead of Miami. If Boston wins, they move into a tie with Miami. The Sixers play Phoenix tonight, the best team in the NBA, so if they lose, they’ll fall a game behind both teams. 

Boston holds the tiebreaker over Miami AND they play each other on Wednesday. 

After everything, the Celtics can finish the season in first place. The Celtics, though, aren't using that as any kind of motivation. 

“We haven't said anything to the team about standings or any of that,” Udoka said. “Just continue to play the right way and build on what we've been doing well. As coaches, we look at it and there are so many scenarios, you can't get into that with the players really but that's not the focus with them. It's to continue to build with what we have over this stretch.”

There seems to be some jockeying at the top of the standings. The home stretch might be about getting into a groove and tightening up some things heading into the playoffs, but in the East, there seems to be a concerted effort to avoid meeting the Brooklyn Nets in the first round.

“I think teams to some extent always try to control something if they can,” Udoka said. “We’re more worried about health and playing the right way. Continue to do what we’re doing and see where the chips fall. But as far back as I’ve gone as a player and coach, teams have always tried to manipulate where they can. Figure out what’s in their favor.”

Boston may not be one of those teams. 

“In San Antonio, (Gregg Popovich) didn’t care about seeding at all. It was about health and playing the right way going into it,” Udoka said. “He’s won championships as a seventh seed and lost in the first round as a one seed. It was more about health and overall goal of the team going into the playoffs - not the opponent. With us, we’ve competed well with everyone this year, beat a lot of good teams, had some poor losses or big leads lost to the good teams, so it’s about playing well and being healthy, and getting rested going into it and getting the other guys ready. It’s not about looking at a certain opponent or not.”

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Guarding KAT: Without Horford, the Celtics face the significant challenge of slowing down Towns, who is averaging 25.4 points and 10.3 rebounds since the All-Star break. He’s a threat from anywhere, and he can create a mismatch no matter how you guard him. Grant Williams? KAT can shoot over him. Robert Williams? KAT can muscle him in the post. Daniel Theis? KAT can dribble by him. Boston is going to need a strong team effort to stop him.

2. Attacking KAT: Towns is not exactly an All-Defense candidate, so the Celtics will want to try putting him in a lot of actions to take advantage of that. Udoka loves to open the game with an alley oop play, and it's something they will probably go to often. 

3. Getting up on shooters: Minnesota is nipping at Boston’s heels in most metrics since the All-Star break. They are second in offensive rating behind the Celtics. They are fourth in defensive rating, behind the Celtics. They are second in net rating, yup, behind the Celtics. They are fourth in effective field goal percentage (which is weighted to account for 3-pointers), actually two spots behind Boston there. Boston has to be disciplined defensively, which may be a little tougher without Al Horford on the floor, and close out under control. Force those shooters off the 3-point line, where they’ve shot 38.4% since the break. They shoot 41% in wins and 30% in losses, so it might simply be a matter of Boston forcing them into tougher shots to get this win. 

GAME THREAD

Stick around for more comments below as the game goes on. Feel free to add your two cents in the comments