Friday night was second-round pick Jordan Mickey’s turn, as the LSU product racked up 10 points in 12 minutes of playing time while tallying four rebounds, one assist, two blocks and a steal.
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Training camp invite Corey Walden and forward Perry Jones are the likely candidates to get cut, but the Boston Herald’s Mark Murphy suggested something else could be in the works.
In their first meeting last October 16, the Knicks won 101-95 to hand the Celtics their only loss of the preseason.
The team’s expected starting five on opening night – Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, David Lee and Tyler Zeller – has been the most successful of the four different starting lineups used in the preseason.
Jared Sullinger may have come into training camp in the best shape of his career, but he’s also encountered stiffer competition than usual in the Celtics frontcourt in his third National Basketball Association season. No, but I think he will be a very solid player and improve upon a solid rookie campaign.
“I think [setting the defensive tone is] big for any team”, Crowder said.
That’s what other teams did to them.
Amir Johnson played only 13 minutes Thursday night.
The Celtics starting five is finally starting to take shape, as NESN points out and from the looks of it, Zeller will be on the list when the regular season does in fact begin next week.
“I think the way I’d phrase it is, ‘Just get off to a good start, ‘” Stevens said. Thomas will also be a big part of backcourt rotation, but after that is where Stevens will probably start making tougher decisions for the backcourt. The Celtics can’t score and don’t compete against the powers of the East. If they can’t muster a winning record by the All-Star break, look for a major trade having to do with Smart and Sullinger.
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“You can’t really consider us a small team anymore”, Sullinger said. I don’t believe they make the Eastern Conference Finals, but I could see them stealing a first round series. He added six points on 3-of-4 shooting before taking the rest of the night off. Thomas had his worst outing of the preseason, missing 14 of the 17 shots he put up and finishing with seven points and six assists.
