Final: Celtics 107, Pelicans 97 - Ho hum win over shorthanded Pelicans

GAME 51
Boston Celtics (25-25, 9-15 road, T-8th East) vs. New Orleans Pelicans (18-30, 11-12 home, 12th West)
Smoothie King Center
7:00 PM - NBC Sports Boston 

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

Boston: Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Robert Williams, Al Horford

New Orleans: DeVonte’ Graham, Josh Hart, Garret Temple, Herbert Jones, Willy Hernangomez

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Brandon Ingram (ankle), Jonas Valanciunas (non-COVID illness), Kira Lewis (knee), Didi Louzada (health and safety), and Trey Murphy (health and safety) are all out for New Orleans.

- Zion Williamson (foot) is away from the team as he tries to recover from a right foot fracture

- Boston is favored by 6.5

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR 

1. No let up: The Celtics are on a back-to-back against a bad team missing its two best players. We know how the Celtics have reacted in these situations (it’s not good). 

“We can’t be complacent in the mindset like guys are going to be sitting out and we’re going to be good to go tonight,” Ime Udoka said. “And also, we didn't have a great feel from last night, a sour taste in our mouth after we played offensively. Felt like we took a step back as far as what we had been doing the last few games, so we watched it this morning. And it was really apparent when you look at the Washington, Sacramento game, last night, and then even take it back to the New Orleans game, how we were spaced, the ball movement, transition, pace we were playing. So want to get back to that tonight, and good opportunity to do that after a bad loss last night.”

This game should look a lot like the Kings game if Boston wants to wash the taste of that Atlanta loss out of their mouths. That means crisp execution, forcing turnovers, and getting out in transition. This is a chance to put New Orleans away early. 

2. Attacking the middle: The Celtics did not have Robert Williams in their first game, and now the Pels are relying on Willy Hernangomez to patrol the middle. The Celtics need to put him in pick-and-roll situations as often as possible and play off that. 

It’s very simple. They don’t need to go overboard in the game planning here. Spread the floor, force some bad defenders to make decisions, and make the right reads off of that. 

3. Play with pace, but don’t play fast: Playing fast means playing rushed. If the Celtics play with pace, they will play with a tempo that puts the Pels in tough defensive situations.

“I mentioned in Sacramento our 18 kick-aheads and cross-court passes were a season-high,” Udoka said. “And (against Atlanta) we had guys in front of us that we didn’t throw it up to or the guys that were up ahead didn’t run to the corners, so our spacing was kind of bogged down. 

“We had guys stopping at the break and showing a crowd, so we didn’t have the driving angles that we had in previous games. So it was a little mix of both. I think Marcus pushed it extremely well. Others didn’t as much. And when those guys – Jayson, Jaylen, whoever, J-Rich, or Dennis, they gotta run ahead.”

The Pelicans will want to play uptempo, but in a weird way Boston pushing the pace can help prevent what New Orleans is trying to do. By getting the ball up and challenging the defense, then driving and passing lanes open up, which means getting easy buckets and forcing the Pels to inbound the ball rather than run off misses. By pushing the pace and getting easy buckets, New Orleans will face more set defenses, and they are a TERRIBLE halfcourt offense. 

GAME THREAD

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