Boston Celtics at Utah Jazz: Game Thread

Television: NBATV (DirecTV 216 and Comcast 630)

With League Pass I like to watch two or three games a night, but I also like spend a half with each commentary team (not OKC or San Antonio, their commentators make me want to scrape out my cochlea and ossicles with a rusty chisel) , getting local perspective on teams, how big of homers they, etc.  It's also fun to watch their post game shows to get a feel for how they treat the team, players, front office.  I happened to watch the Boston-Portland game last night.

It was interesting watching Boston sports talk television after the Celtics lost to Portland.  I've always heard that Boston media was brutal and unforgiving.  I didn't think they were as brutal and unforgiving as they were being portrayed by the rest of the country, right?

Wrong.

Those guys in Boston are absolutely brutal and if I were a player or front office exec there would be no way I'd talk to some of these guys.

The guy who does the post game show (can't remember his name) was talking to Cedric Maxwell and trying his best to goad him into saying something bad about Danny Ainge and not making a huge deal at the deadline.  He was saying that "Ainge had no sack" or would be "better off running a women's shelter."

My mouth just dropped when he said that Jeff Green, "Had no heart, if you know what I mean."

I had to turn the coverage off at that point.  You really must have a thick skin to play in Boston.  I've heard New York is as bad or worse (can't imagine worse) to their sports teams in terms of harshness.  I think there would be a riot if the media was like that in Seattle.

Both teams are coming off losses, Utah beat by the Clippers on Saturday night in LA and the Celtics lost a tough one to the Blazers last night in Portland.  The Jazz have been really good at home (21-6) while the Celtics have had their struggles on the road (9-18).

This is the last game of the Celtics longest road trip of the year, the second of the back to back.  Would expect to see some big minutes from some of the younger guys, especially Jeff Green getting a lot of time at the four.

Prediction: Boston is too tired to put up much of a fight after the third and can't hang with the Jazz down the stretch.  Utah wins, 98-89.

PROJECTED STARTING FIVE

Random Stat of the Night Bench ScoringBoston – 21.4 PPG (29th) Utah – 34.2 PPG (8th)

Officials Bill Spooner, Kevin Scott and John Goble