Blakely's Celtics-Sixers Game 4 preview

Share

PHILADELPHIA, PAIn the NBA, there's no such thing as a perfect game.

But when you look at the play of the Boston Celtics in their 107-91 Game 3 win over Philadelphia, the C's came pretty darn close.

Especially impressive was the play of Rajon Rondo, who continues to play at a historically-high level.

In the last two games Rondo has had 27 assists with just two turnovers. Since the NBA began tracking individual turnovers in 1977, no player has had that many assists with so few turnovers.

When Rondo's playing at this level, figuring out how to compete let alone defeat the Celtics, becomes an incredibly daunting task.

Because unlike most point guards, Rondo has shown the ability to hurt teams in both a serendipitous state when the Celtics go helter-skelter offensively, as well as when their offensive sets are more structured.

Finding that happy medium between the two will continue to be a balancing act for the Celtics heading into tonight's Game 4 matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers.

"I don't ever want to hold them back," Rivers said. "I want them to run. But I also want them to understand if we've been running three, four and five times, and we haven't scored or we're out of rhythm, then we have to get into a set. Rondo walked that line perfect in Game 3. We got a lot of transition buckets."

Rivers also noted that the C's scored " a lot out of what we call random, but we also scored a lot of points out of our execution."

He added, "When you can do both of those things, you're getting bothyou have to get easy baskets. You're not going to win a series and everything is half court. You have to get easy baskets, but you have to execute in half court as well."

Boston's ability to continue striking that perfect balance will be an important factor tonight. Here are some other keys to keep an eye on as the C's look to take a commanding 3-1 series lead with the goal now being to close out the series in Boston on Monday.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR
After torching them with his scoring and passing, look for the Sixers to place a renewed focus on trying to limit Rajon Rondo. As much as Kevin Garnett's scoring around the basket and Paul Pierce's ability to get to the free throw line has hurt them, Rondo has quietly gone about dominating this series with his all-around play.

MATCHUP TO WATCH
Kevin Garnett vs. Spencer Hawes: Garnett has been crushing Hawes all series, and there's a good chance that KG will again win this head-to-head battle. But the Sixers are probably going to try and have Hawes look to be more of a scorer, which they believe will potentially wear Garnett down some. Sounds good in theory. But like most of Philly's approaches to handling Garnett in this seriesit's probably not going to work.

PLAYER TO WATCH
Ray Allen only took one shot in Game 3and it wasn't even a 3-pointer. The Sixers have done a good job of making sure he doesn't get going, but his presence has opened things up for just about every one on the floor with him. Only Kevin Garnett (plus-47) and Avery Bradley (plus-23) have a higher plusminus ratio than Allen (plus 22). "That tells you his effectiveness," said Sixers coach Doug Collins. "Ray Allen, he's a threat to throw up 20 points anytime. When he's on the floor, you have to space him differently. So what he does, he takes away some of your help. Yo have ot shade him a little bit more than you do somebody else."

STAT TO TRACK
No one expects the Sixers' starters to out-score their Boston Celtics' counterparts. But Philadelphia has no shot at winning tonight - or the series for that matter - if they don't at the very least keep it relatively close. In Boston's two playoff wins, the Celtic starters outscored the Sixers' first unit by an average of 30 points. In the lone loss, Boston's starters tallied 60 compared to a respectable 56 by the Sixers.

Contact Us