Heat (51-14) at Celtics (36-29) 3/18

[FLCeltsFan]

  at 

Miami Heat (51-14) at Boston Celtics (36-29)
Monday, March 18, 2013
8:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #66,  Home Game #34
TV:  ESPN, CSNNE, NABC, SunSpM
Radio:  WEEI, WAXY
TD Garden 


Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
vs
Avery Bradley vs Mario Chalmers

Shooting Guard
  vs 
Courtney Lee vs Dwyane Wade

Small Forward
vs
Paul Pierce vs LeBron James

Power Forward
vs
Brandon Bass vs Udonis Haslem

Center
vs
Kevin Garnett vs Chris Bosh 



Boston's Reserves
Jason Terry
Jeff Green
Chris Wilcox
Terrence Williams
Jordan Crawford
DJ White
Shavlik Randolph

Injuries
Rajon Rondo (knee)  out
Jared Sullinger (back) out
Kevin Garnett (adductor)  questionable

D-League
Fab Melo





Miami's Reserves
Rashard Lewis
Ray Allen
Shane Battier
Norris Cole
Mike Miller
Joel Anthony
James Jones
Chris Andersen
Jarvis Varnado

Injuries
None

Game Notes
The Heat and Celtics meet for the third of four match-ups this season. The teams have split their two meetings so far this season, with both teams winning on their home court. Boston has won their last 10 regular season games at home against Miami. The Heat is 15-32 all time in games played in Boston.

 This game is all about streaks.  The last time these two teams met in Boston, the Celtics ended their 6 game losing streak and extended their win streak at home against the Heat to 10.  5 years ago on March 18th, the Celtics ended Houston's 22 game win streak.   Five years later, the Heat come into Boston with a 22 game win streak and the Celtics are hoping that they can repeat history and end this 22 game win streak as well. 

Kevin Garnett is considered 50-50 for this game and if he can't go or is limited, it gets a lot tougher for the Celtics.   But the Celtics have overcome a lot of adversity and a complete team effort would still give them a chance to win.    I'm being positive and putting KG into the starting lineup, hoping he'll be good to go. 

 The Heat are playing in back to back games and had to travel after their afternoon game in Toronto.  For once, the Celtics have had the day off before the big matchup.    The Celtics need to come out focused and play as a team from the start to the final buzzer. 

Key Matchups
vs 
Avery Bradley/Courtney Lee  vs Mario Chalmers/Dwyane Wade
The Celtics "Pit Bull" backcourt will need to contain the Heat's backcourt players.   I expect Bradley and Lee to tag team against Chalmers and Wade to keep Miami from getting into their offense and disrupting Wade especially from getting hot on offense. 

  vs 
Paul Pierce vs LeBron James
This is always a tough matchup for any team.  Expect Jeff Green to get the call to cover LeBron much of the time in this game.  Green has been effective in the past guarding him and so should take some of the pressure off of Pierce by doing so.   

Honorable Mention
Kevin Garnett vs Chris Bosh
I know that KG is considered 50-50 for this game but I'm being positive in hoping he will be good to go.  KG can defend Bosh very well,  but if KG doesn't play the Celtics will struggle with this matchup because Bass won't be near as effective covering him.

Keys to the Game
Defense
 Both teams pride themselves on their defense and defense is always a key to winning.   The Celtics are 7th in points allowed (95.6) while the Heat are 8th (95..  The Celtics are 4th in FG% allowed (43.7%) and the Heat are 9th (44.1%).  The Celtics are 2nd in defending the 3 point line (33.4%) while the Heat are 12th (35.2%)  If the Celtics want to win this game, they will have to play lock down team defense for 48 minutes. 

Rebound
The Heat are the only team in the league that rebound worse than the Celtics.   The Celtics are 29th with 40.0 RPG while the Heat are 30th at 38.5 RPG.     The Celtics need to crash the boards and prevent the Heat from getting second chance baskets and tip ins.  They can also limit Miami's fast breaks  and get some fast break opportunities of their own by crashing the boards as well.   They must rebound as a team with everyone going to the basket to box out or rebound. 

Be Aggressive
When the Celtics are aggressive they are tough to beat.  They have to be aggressive in going to the basket and not settle for jumpers, especially if they aren't falling.    The starters need to come out and play aggressively from the beginning and the second unit needs to come in and pick up where they leave off.  They have to attack the basket and be aggressive on defense especially.   

Bench Play
The Celtics need their second unit to play well.  The Heat are 21-1 when their bench outscores their opponents' bench.  The Celtics reserves need to be aggressive and play with energy.  They also have to defend to keep the Heat's reserves from getting an advantage. 

X-Factors
Officiating and KG
We know that the Heat get special treatment from the refs.  A player as physical as LeBron can't go weeks without getting called for a foul without the refs letting him get away with a lot.  In their last 3 games, they have had huge free throw discrepancies - Heat 29/Raptors 12, Heat 27/Sixers 12, Heat 30/Hawks 14.   It appears that the Heat are getting some help keeping their streak alive.   We can only hope that the Celtics can get a fair shot from them in this one. 

 Also, KG is 50-50 to play in this game and it becomes much tougher to win if KG can't play or is limited. 

[BASS_THUMPER]

huge game
very excited bout this one

[beklog]

Battle of the winning streaks...
22 win streak of the Heat vs 11 Home win streak of the Celtics

Beat the Heat!!!

[Lightskinsmurf]

Dang 51-14 huh. I gotta see if KG is playing before I get too excited. Don't see us winning without him.

[WeMadeIt17]

Biggest game of the year! Very pumped for this one.

OH Yeah..


Celtics get the Win!

[SHAQATTACK]

rather KG sit out tomorrow than chance getting hurt worse and trying to play.

no Rondo, KG, Sully, ......that's half the team.....

not looking good.....

[BASS_THUMPER]

rather KG sit out tomorrow than chance getting hurt worse and trying to play.

no Rondo, KG, Sully, ......that's half the team.....

not looking good.....

i understand your pain
but i think it's great

who else gets the opportunity to step up and shine
im lovin it

[GreenFaith1819]

TP, FL!

Can't Wait!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GRFYDWsI9U

Regardless of the outcome of that game, the fans were behind the team, and still are!

Show yo' love again tomorrow night, BOS!!

[SHAQATTACK]

rather KG sit out tomorrow than chance getting hurt worse and trying to play.

no Rondo, KG, Sully, ......that's half the team.....

not looking good.....

i understand your pain
but i think it's great

who else gets the opportunity to step up and shine
im lovin it

yeah.........that is very true,  if anything maybe the new backups , can get a taste of playoff level intensity .


main deal for me is to see KG get healthy again.

[MVPPierceNoJoke]

One key to the game that I didn't see mentioned was to limit turnovers. If we can stay under a dozen which is very difficult against Miami, we have a great chance to end there win streak.

[Lightskinsmurf]

rather KG sit out tomorrow than chance getting hurt worse and trying to play.

no Rondo, KG, Sully, ......that's half the team.....

not looking good.....

i understand your pain
but i think it's great

who else gets the opportunity to step up and shine
im lovin it

You won't be loving it if we lose by 25 tomorrow.

[CelticConcourse]

Game of the century. Let's do it, y'all.

[j804]

rather KG sit out tomorrow than chance getting hurt worse and trying to play.

no Rondo, KG, Sully, ......that's half the team.....

not looking good.....

i understand your pain
but i think it's great

who else gets the opportunity to step up and shine
im lovin it

yeah.........that is very true,  if anything maybe the new backups , can get a taste of playoff level intensity .


main deal for me is to see KG get healthy again.

He's fine people really think KG has in injury? He just had a maintenance/rest day so he's fresh going forward. I think it was Terry on his ESPNBoston diary who spilled the beans...said he just had a night off. Don't let Doc fool you he wants this one bad and a spry KG will help make that happen.

You can book it the win streak will be snapped tomorrow.

[Lightskinsmurf]

rather KG sit out tomorrow than chance getting hurt worse and trying to play.

no Rondo, KG, Sully, ......that's half the team.....

not looking good.....

i understand your pain
but i think it's great

who else gets the opportunity to step up and shine
im lovin it

yeah.........that is very true,  if anything maybe the new backups , can get a taste of playoff level intensity .


main deal for me is to see KG get healthy again.

He's fine people really think KG has in injury? He just had a maintenance/rest day so he's fresh going forward. I think it was Terry on his ESPNBoston diary who spilled the beans...said he just had a night off. Don't let Doc fool you he wants this one bad and a spry KG will help make that happen.

I just heard an interview from terry and he said he had no idea what the status on KG was. Either way how do you know hes fine? Because reports are saying different. Reports and doc are saying he has an injury and hes 50/50 tomorrow .

So why should we ignore all of that and just go with "Hes fine"? He could very well be fine but I just don't get why people are so quick to dismiss the very possible possibility that KG might indeed have in injury.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

rather KG sit out tomorrow than chance getting hurt worse and trying to play.

no Rondo, KG, Sully, ......that's half the team.....

not looking good.....

i understand your pain
but i think it's great

who else gets the opportunity to step up and shine
im lovin it

yeah.........that is very true,  if anything maybe the new backups , can get a taste of playoff level intensity .


main deal for me is to see KG get healthy again.

He's fine people really think KG has in injury? He just had a maintenance/rest day so he's fresh going forward. I think it was Terry on his ESPNBoston diary who spilled the beans...said he just had a night off. Don't let Doc fool you he wants this one bad and a spry KG will help make that happen.

I just heard an interview from terry and he said he had no idea what the status on KG was. Either way how do you know hes fine? Because reports are saying different. Reports and doc are saying he has an injury and hes 50/50 tomorrow .

So why should we ignore all of that and just go with "Hes fine"? He could very well be fine but I just don't get why people are so quick to dismiss the very possible possibility that KG might indeed have in injury.

I don't get it either, I have no doubt that KG is injured (doesn't mean he won't play)... when they rest KG, they call it rest, when he is injured they call it what it is... they don't have to make up injuries to rest him! KG rested a few weeks ago... DNP-Rest.