Here are five things to watch out for when the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets meet at 5 p.m. today at the Pepsi Center.
Boston’s frontcourt was short-handed Friday night in Salt Lake City, as it was without Kelly Olynyk (right shoulder injury) and David Lee (waived by the team Friday afternoon).
Now the same may be true for the Celtics’ backcourt when they take on Denver this afternoon.
Avery Bradley bruised his left knee during the third quarter of Friday’s loss and later had to exit the game due to the discomfort it caused him.
Also injured during the loss was Marcus Smart, who jammed his right thumb during the first quarter and had it wrapped after the game.
Smart said he should be good to go against the Nuggets; Bradley, however, was slightly more concerned about his injury. He said after Friday’s game that he would “take it day-by-day” and likely be a game-time decision against Denver.
Not having to face Bradley would be a relief for the Nuggets, seeing as he sparked Boston to a win when these squads met on Jan. 27. He scored 13 of his game-high 27 points during the first quarter of that contest, en route to a 111-103 win at TD Garden.
With or without their first quarter specialist, Bradley, the C’s will have to find a way to set the tone early this afternoon.
Boston was unable to do so Friday, as it battled some post-All-Star break rust against the Jazz and managed to shoot just 37.0 percent as a team.
Jae Crowder was the C’s only starter to shoot better than 42.0 percent from the field during the 111-93 loss.
Boston will certainly need to have more guys step up in that department today, and the earlier the better.
Denver forward Danilo Gallinari has been on offensive tear lately, averaging 23.0 points per game since Jan. 1. It’s worth noting that 38.1 percent of his points during that span have come from the free-throw line.
Gallinari has made a league-high 193 free throw attempts since the start of the New Year at an impressive 86.9 percent clip.
Keeping him off the line should quite a challenge for Boston, which allowed Utah to get to the stripe 44 times Friday, and is fouling at the highest rate in the league (22.6 personal fouls per game).
Another guy the C’s should keep an eye on is Will Barton, who tied Gallinari with a team-high 23 points when these two teams faced off last month.
Barton, having averaged just 5.0 PPG during his first three NBA seasons, has emerged out of the blue this season as the third-highest scoring reserve in the league (15.5 PPG).
He’s a player that you want to hone in on especially during crunch time, as he averages 6.4 points per fourth quarter. That places him ninth in the league in fourth quarter production, one spot ahead of C’s guard Isaiah Thomas (6.2 points per fourth quarter).
Rookie Jordan Mickey knows it will take time to become a regular member of the Celtics’ rotation, but so far he has seized every moment of his playing time.
Mickey was inserted for the final three minutes of Friday’s game, and in that short span he finished off an alley-opp from fellow rookie Terry Rozier and blocked two of Utah’s shot attempts.
“I’m happy to be able to just get an opportunity,” Mickey told reporters after the game. “It’s all about taking your opportunity and showing what you can do.”
The 21-year-old’s player efficiency rating (PER) of 63.1 is nearly three times that of any other player in the league. Of course, that is heavily skewed because of the fact he has only played nine minutes this season.
At the very least, it is evidence that Mickey is taking full advantage of the playing time he receives, and now that Boston’s frontcourt has been slightly depleted, he may earn more of an opportunity to continue to show us what he can do.
