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Boston Celtics (10-14) at Miami Heat (12-15)
Sunday, December 21, 2014
6:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #25, Road Game #10
TV: CSNNE, SunSports, NBA-LP 758(DTV), 755/756(xfinity)
Radio: 1030 WBZ, 104.3 The Ticket
American Airlines Arena
Probable Starting Matchups Point Guard vs
Evan Turner vs Mario Chalmers
Shooting Guard vs
Avery Bradley vs Dwyane Wade
Small Forward vs
Jeff Green vs Luol Deng
Power Forward vs
Jared Sullinger vs Shawne Williams
Center vs
Tyler Zeller vs Chris Andersen
Celtics Reserves Brandon Bass
Tyler Zeller
Gerald Wallace
Jae Crowder
Brandan Wright
Jameer Nelson
Marcus Smart
InjuriesMarcus Thornton (calf) out
James Young (shoulder) out
Heat ReservesNorris Cole
Justin Hamilton
Udonis Haslem
James Ennis
Hassan Whiteside
Danny Granger
Shabazz Napier
Andre Dawkins
Injuries Chris Bosh (calf) out
Josh McRoberts (meniscus) out
Game Notes The Celtics try to win their fourth straight game as they make a visit to the Miami Heat. This is the first of 4 games between these two teams this season. They will meet in Boston on February 1 and March 25 and again in Miami on March 9. The Celtics have won their last 3 while the Heat have lost their last 2 games.
The Celtics won the season series last year 2-1 but much has changed for both teams since those meetings. LeBron is no longer in Miami and it is once again Dwyane Wade's team. And Rajon Rondo, who always had big games against the Heat, is in Dallas.
The Heat are 4-9 at home while the Celtics are 3-6 on the road. The Heat have lost their last 5 home games and desperately want to end that streak. Strangely, the Celtics are in the 8th playoff spot in the East while the Heat are just above them in the 7th spot. This rivalry may be far from what it once was but it's always good to beat the Heat.
Key Matchups at
Avery Bradley vs Dwyane Wade
Avery Bradley does as good a job as anyone of hounding Wade and frustrating him. Wade is leading the Heat with 22.8 points and 5.5 assists a game. Avery will need to play him tough to keep him from having a big game.
vs
Jeff Green vs Luol Deng
Deng is long and has always been a tough defender. Jeff will have to work to get his points against Deng. On the other end, Deng is averaging 14.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists and Jeff will need to play some defense himself to slow him down.
Keys to the Game DefenseDefense wins games. The Celtics have been playing some pretty good defense in the past 3 games. They need to continue to play tough team defense. They need to especially defend the 3 point line where Miami is shooting 36% from beyond the arc. The Heat are allowing just 98.6 points per game while the Celtics are allowing 104.7 points per game. Defense will be a big key to getting a win.
ReboundThe Heat are dead last in the league in rebounding, pulling down just 35.6 rebounds per game. They are also last in offensive rebounding with 8 per game. Crashing the boards will give the Celtics extra possessions as well as keeping the Heat from getting fast breaks and second chance points. They lost one of their better rebounders when Rondo was traded and so the rest of the team must step up to fill in that gap.
Be AggressiveThe Celtics have to be aggressive in going to the basket and not settle for jumpers, especially if the jumpers aren't falling. They have to dive for loose balls and be aggressive in crashing the boards. 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 for the whole 48 minutes. No letting up.
Run and Take it to the HoopThe Celtics need to run on every possession. They have the legs to keep it up and not let up and to tire the Heat out. The Celtics also have to go to the basket and not settle for jumpers. Every game they have offensive droughts when their shots just won't go. When that happens, they have to go inside and not continue to hoist up jumpers.
X-Factors Road Game and New Guys Playing on the road, young teams often struggle on the road. Hopefully the Celtics can focus and get the win here. The 3 new players will more than likely be available and play in this game. How they fit with the team may give them a boost or may hold them back.