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<\/a><\/p>\nBam Adebayo Getty Images<\/p>\n
Boston Celtics Reserves
Anfernee Simons
Josh Minott
Xavier Tillman
Jordan Walsh
Hugo Gonzalez
Baylon Scheierman
Chris Boucher
2-Way Players
Ron Harper, Jr
Max Shulga
Amari Williams
Injuries\/Out
Jayson Tatum (Achilles) out
Josh Minott (ankle) out
Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla<\/p>\n
Miami Heat Reserves
Simone Fontecchio
Kasparas Jakucionis
Keshad Johnson
Norman Powell
Kel\u2019el Ware
2-Way Players
Myron Gardner
Vladislav Goldin
Jahmir Young
Injuries\/Out
Davion Mitchell (shoulder) out
Niola Jovic (knee) available
Tyler Herro (toe\/rib) available
Jaime Jaquez, jr (knee) out
Terry Rozier III (not injury related) out<\/p>\n
Key Matchups
Payton Pritchard vs Tyler Herro
Herro is averaging 21.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.7 assists while shooting 48.8% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc. Herro is streaky but can put up points in a hurry. He didn\u2019t play in the first game against the Celtics in Boston. The Celtics need to be ready to defend him both in the interior and on the perimeter.<\/p>\n
Neemias Queta vs Bam Adebayo
Adebayo is averaging 16.8 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals per game. He is shooting 45.6% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc. In the first game against the Celtics, he finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal while shooting 46.2% from the field with no 3\u2019s. The Celtics need to keep him out of the paint and off the boards.<\/p>\n
Honorable Mention
Sam Hauser vs Andrew Wiggins
Wiggins is averaging 15.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. He is shooting 46.7% from the field and 39.9% from beyond the arc. He is a good shooter and so the Celtics need to defend him well. He didn\u2019t play in the first game against the Celtics in Boston.<\/p>\n
Keys to the Game
Defense – Defense will always be the biggest key to winning every single game. The Celtics are 15th with a defensive rating of 114.3. The Heat are 4th with a defensive rating of 111.4. The Celtics need to defend the perimeter since the Heat attempt 35.3 threes a game and shoot threes better than the Celtics at 36.9%. They also have to defend the paint as the Heat are 3rd with 54.9 points in the paint per game. The Celtics need to work harder than the Heat on defense and make that their priority.<\/p>\n
Rebound – Along with defense, rebounding is always a key to winning. As Pat Riley once said \u201cNo rebounds, no rings.\u201d The Celtics average 44.5 rebounds per game (14th) while the Heat average 45.6 rebounds per game (7th). The Celtics are 16-5 when they out-rebound opponents and just 6-9 when out-rebounded. It takes effort and hustle to get rebounds and the Celtics need to give more effort than the Heat to grab rebounds if they want to win this game.<\/p>\n
Effort and Focus for 48 Minutes- The Celtics have to play with extra effort overall for all 4 quarters. In most of their losses and even in their wins, they have allowed their opponents to play with more energy than them for periods of time during the game. They play well for stretches but leup and allow their opponents to surge ahead, especially down the stretch. They have to stay focused for all 48 minutes and be ready for their opponents to play harder in the second half and they need to match that effort.<\/p>\n
To 3 or Not to 3 – The Celtics are 2nd in the league, attempting 42.6 threes a game. When they fall, the Celtics are tough to beat. But, when they aren\u2019t falling, the Celtics struggle. If the Celtics aren\u2019t hitting their 3s, they have to go to Plan B and take the ball to the basket or shoot from midrange. The Celtics shot just 25.7% from three against the Pacers but allowed them to shoot 43.2% from beyond the arc, much better than their average. If the 3s are falling, great!! If not, go to Plan B. The Heat are a good defensive team and will try to chase the Celtics off the 3 point line and they need to be ready for that.<\/p>\n
X-Factors
On the Road – The Celtics are on the road for the 2nd game of a 4 game road trip. The Celtics need to stay focused on playing hard and as a team and not be distracted by the hostile crowd or the unfamiliar court or the fatigue that comes from travel. They have lost their last 2 games and need to stay focused to get back in the win column in spite of playing on the road.<\/p>\n
Officiating – Officiating is always an x-factor in every game. Every crew officiates differently. Some call it tight, others let them play. The Celtics need to adjust to how the refs are calling the game and not allow bad calls or no calls to take away their focus from playing the game. The last 2 games should show how much of an x-factor officiating can be. The Celtics have to play so well all game that the officiating, no matter how bad, can\u2019t influence the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics (24-15) at Miami Heat (21-19)Thursday, January 15, 20267:30 PM ETTV: NBCSB, FDSN Sun, NBA-LPRegular Season Game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3778],"tags":[7,38331,144,295,189,3881,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-539775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-heat","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-celtics-game-previews","10":"tag-heat","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-heat","13":"tag-miamiheat","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115902611191732522","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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