![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/gettyimages-2259323280.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\nBam Adebayo Getty Images<\/p>\n
Boston Celtics Reserves
Payton Pritchard
Jordan Walsh
Hugo Gonzalez
Luka Garza
Nikola Vucevic
Amari Williams<\/p>\n
2-Way Players
Ron Harper, Jr
Max Shulga
John Tonje<\/p>\n
Injuries\/Out
Jayson Tatum (Achilles) out
John Tonje (trade) out<\/p>\n
Miami Heat Reserves
Kasparas Jakucionis
Jaime Jaquez, Jr
Keshad Johnson
Nikola Jovic
Dru Smith
Kel\u2019el Ware
Simone Fontecchio
2-Way Players
Myron Gardner
Vladislav Goldin
Jahmir Young
Injuries\/Out
Tyler Herro (ribs) out
Terry Rozier III (not injury related) out<\/p>\n
Key Matchups
Jaylen Brown vs Norman Powell
Powell is averaging 23points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He is shooting 47.2% from the field and 39.2% from beyond the arc. In 2 games against the Celtics so far this season, he averaged 22 points, 3.5 rebounds,2.5 assists and 1 steal while shooting 47.2% from the field and 14.3% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to defend him well as he is the Heat\u2019s high scorer and can put up a lot of points in a hurry if left open.<\/p>\n
Neemias Queta vs Bam Adebayo
Adebayo is averaging 18.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.0 steal per game. He is shooting 44.4% from the field and 34.6% from beyond the arc. In the first 2 games against the Celtics, he averaged 19 points, 7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists while shooting 43.8% from the field and 37.5% from beyond the arc. 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 15.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game. He is shooting 46.8% from the field and 38.4% from beyond the arc. He didn\u2019t play in the first game against the Celtics but he finished the second game with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists while shooting 50% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc. He is a good shooter and so the Celtics need to defend him well.<\/p>\n
Keys to the Game
Defense – Defense will always be the biggest key to winning every single game. The Celtics are 11th with a defensive rating of 112.7. The Heat are 4th with a defensive rating of 112.1. The Celtics need to defend the perimeter since the Heat attempt 36.7 threes a game and shoot threes at 36.1%. 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 42.5 rebounds per game (9th) while the Heat average 46.6 rebounds per game (2nd). The Celtics out-rebounded the #1 rebounding team, Houston, on Wednesday and they need to put the same effort into rebounding in this game. 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 some of 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 let up and allow their opponents to surge ahead. The Heat are known for playing hard against all of their opponents. They have to stay focused for all 48 minutes and be ready for the heat to play harder in the second half and they need to match that effort and if the 3\u2019s aren\u2019t falling, get into the paint.<\/p>\n
Move the Ball Carefully – The Celtics are best when they keep the ball moving and find the open man. They struggle when they try to do too much individually. The Celtics are 21-2 when they have 25 or more assists in a game. The Heat are 5th in the league with 20.3 points off turnovers per game so the Celtics have to make careful passes and be careful not to turn the ball over.<\/p>\n
X-Factors
Home Game and Fatigue – The Celtics are at home and will have the crowd behind them to give them extra motivation. The Heat will be playing in front of a hostile crowd and in an unfamiliar arena. The Celtics are playing in the 3rd game in 4 nights and have been playing short handed so there may be some fatigue there.<\/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 more aggressive team will usually get the benefit of the calls and so the Celtics need to be the more aggressive team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami Heat (27-25) at Boston Celtics (33-18)Friday, February 6, 20267:30 PM ETRegular Season Game #52 Home Game #25TV:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587133,"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-587132","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":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587132","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=587132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/platform.celticsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/63\/2026\/02\/gettyimages-2260072865.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100\")
<\/a><\/p>\n