Celtics (39-26) @ Kings (32-31) – 10:00PM, Wed, Mar. 6, 2019

[ConstableGeneva]

No Bagley I believe for SAC. No Kyrie (left thigh contusion) for BOS.

[Roddy]

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[Froob]

Pretty dope court tonight

[mbsnmisc]

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Rest?
I wonder if that knee he dinged up against the Clippers is 100%.
In the big picture, a healthy Kyrie for the postseason trumps any game in March. I was just excited to see the team build on last night and roll these bums.

[Setshot33]

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Larry would've played.......... #softteam

[mbsnmisc]

Pretty dope court tonight

$1.00 Lowenbrau night?

[grindtime22]

I am not saying the Celtics will lose this game but if I was a gambler I would not place a dime on it since I suspect Kings are still fighting for their playoff lives. And C's may be looking forward to revenge against the Lakers and playing them. Normally, all of this would point to betting on Kings but C's are more talented -- Kings have a player injured -- and they may actually try hard enough to follow it up with a win. Last night the Celtics were still able to rest players since game over entering the 4th and Curry shutdown early.

If you are a gambler, you look at the schedule at the beginning of the year or even a month ago and this game gets circled immediately. This is about as easy as it gets to spot. This is a schedule loss. Playing on a back to back on the road following a huge game against the Warriors that you know the Celtics are going to get really up for. That is a Kings bet. Beating the Warriors last night makes it even more of a Kings bet.

The current dynamics of this team and the last month do knock it down a notch though.

[Ascrilas]

5am game. Keep' em coming!

West Coast games for European fans are just - too late to stay up late, too early to wake up early.

[soxfan2003]

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Larry would've played.......... #softteam

To be fair to Kyrie, league is very different nowadays.

Bird came into an NBA where regular season meant more at first or at least was perceived to mean much more. Teams with top records got first round byes and next round of playoffs AFAIR only 5 games. So, getting best record meant more. And not as much money on the line for players so a career ending injury wouldn't cost a player potentially 150 million.

Nowadays, it is just about being healthy for the playoffs and best record/HCA is just a nice to have.

It was the first Celtics game that I went to but I remember Bird diving for a loose ball or something like that and getting some injury to his head or elsewhere. He missed perhaps 10 minutes and went to the dressing room and when he came back the old Boston Garden was absolutely electric considering it was just a regular season game against AFAIR the Bucks, a very good team.

To test my memory, I used basketball reference to try to pinpoint the exact game and with the help of Google, here it is.

https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/01/sports/no-headline-255686.html

When Bird came back into that game -- I had seats that showed him coming back after missing many minutes -- the old Boston Garden erupted like a huge play in a big playoff game.

Nowadays, he would probably be in concussion protocol.

I didn't go to that many Celtics games as a kid since my parents couldn't afford season tickets and tickets in the secondary market were often expensive but remember that game and the old garden with its lousy bathrooms but great atmosphere for basketball.

[BigTrade92]

I’m all for being cautious, but it’s been to the extreme this year with Kyrie.

At this point it feels like he’s getting the Tim Duncan treatment, yet hes about a decade younger...

[Froob]

I’m all for being cautious, but it’s been to the extreme this year with Kyrie.

At this point it feels like he’s getting the Tim Duncan treatment, yet hes about a decade younger...

Kings are above .500, you’d think he’d play hah.

[Feed Your Head]

I’m all for being cautious, but it’s been to the extreme this year with Kyrie.

At this point it feels like he’s getting the Tim Duncan treatment, yet hes about a decade younger...

[BigTrade92]

I’m all for being cautious, but it’s been to the extreme this year with Kyrie.

At this point it feels like he’s getting the Tim Duncan treatment, yet hes about a decade younger...

Well done, well done.

[nickgammon]

I’m all for being cautious, but it’s been to the extreme this year with Kyrie.

At this point it feels like he’s getting the Tim Duncan treatment, yet hes about a decade younger...

It’s the smart move though. Especially when you have a backup capable of starting.

[yazfan]

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Larry would've played.......... #softteam

No kidding, basically a bruise, suck it up, we do not play until Saturday after tonight

[BigTrade92]

I’m all for being cautious, but it’s been to the extreme this year with Kyrie.

At this point it feels like he’s getting the Tim Duncan treatment, yet hes about a decade younger...

It’s the smart move though. Especially when you have a backup capable of starting.

I don’t save how that’s a smart move sitting your best player with 18 games left and you’re currently the 5th seed with home court on the line in the first round and have playing as poorly as can be save for one game recently.

[ducler]

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[soxfan2003]

I’m all for being cautious, but it’s been to the extreme this year with Kyrie.

At this point it feels like he’s getting the Tim Duncan treatment, yet hes about a decade younger...

It’s the smart move though. Especially when you have a backup capable of starting.

I don’t save how that’s a smart move sitting your best player with 18 games left and you’re currently the 5th seed with home court on the line in the first round and have playing as poorly as can be save for one game recently.

Smart move when
1) You want to put his medical needs first. Right thing to do given regular season doesn't mean much. Added benefit, he may appreciate you looking out for him and take that into account during free agency.
2) more of a chance for Hayward to have another good game helping his confidence heading into post season.
3) End of the day, if Celtics can't beat Indiana without one of Indiana's top players while starting off on the road, they won't beat Milwaukee, and then Philly/Toronto winner. That being said, Kyrie missing one game hardly kills Celtics chances at 4th or even 3rd spot.
4) I think who the Celtics play in round 1 and round 2 more important than HCA at this point. I am more optimistic against Philly/Milwaukee than against Toronto.
5) Gives Rozier a chance to shine as a starter which he actually deserves in a contract year. A few starting opportunities helps in case Kyrie misses a playoff game or two....

I haven't been afraid to criticize Ainge/Stevens -- see my previous rants against "small ball" -- but I give Stevens pretty high marks for getting the important stuff right this season. He is doing an A job in allocating minutes this year and I know he is being bashed for spreading them around but I think it is the right thing to do until very close to the very end of season/playoffs.

Important stuff is having all possible players that can contribute in shape and healthy for the games that matter in postseason.

HCA doesn't mean much if Kyrie and some other starter or Hayward are hobbled/injured by playoff time. East at the top is stronger this year even though the bottom is pretty pathetic.

[Parliament10]

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Kyrie is OUT, Ducler.

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[Marvel]

Kyrie sitting out not a good look as a leader. Guess he's alright with the 5th seed. Either that or he's confident we'll roll these fools tonight.