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<\/a><\/p>\nBam Adebayo Getty Images<\/p>\n
Celtics Reserves
Payton Pritchard
Hugo Gonzalez
Luka Garza
Amare Williams
Jordan Walsh
Baylor Scheierman
Max Shulga
John Tonje
Charles Bassey (10-Day)<\/p>\n
2-Way Players
Ron Harper, Jr
Injuries\/Out
Nikola Vucevic (finger) out
Ron Harper, Jr (ankle) questionable<\/p>\n
Miami Heat Reserves
Kasparas Jakucionis
Myron Gardner
Jaime Jaquez, Jr
Keshad Johnson
Nikola Jovic
Dru Smith
Kel\u2019el Ware
Simone Fontecchio
2-Way Players
Trevor Keels
Vladislav Goldin
Jahmir Young
Injuries\/Out
Norman Powell (illness) out
Terry Rozier III (not injury related) out
Andrew Wiggins (toe) questionable<\/p>\n
Key Matchups
Jaylen Brown vs Tyler Herro
Herro is averaging 21.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.8 assists while shooting 48.6% from the field and 38.1% from beyond the arc. Herro is streaky but can put up points in a hurry. He played in just one of the 3 games between these teams this season. He finished with 22 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block and 3 steals while shooting 60% from the field and 57.1% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to be ready to defend him both in the interior and on the perimeter and need to do better than they did in that last game.<\/p>\n
Neemias Queta vs Bam Adebayo
Adebayo is averaging 20.1 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He is shooting 43.8% 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 31.0% from beyond the arc. In 3 games against the Celtics this season, he averaged 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists while shooting 42.2% from the field and 35.7% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to keep him out of the paint and off the boards.
Honorable Mention
Jayson Tatum vs Andrew Wiggins
Wiggins is averaging 15.6 points, 5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. He is shooting 47.5% from the field and 40.7% from beyond the arc. He didn\u2019t play in the first game against the Celtics but in the other two games, he averaged 21 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists while shooting 57.7% from the field and 61.5% from beyond the arc. He is a good shooter and so the Celtics need to defend him well. He is questionable for this game and if he can\u2019t play, then Simone Fontecchio may get the start here.<\/p>\n
Keys to the Game
Defense – Defense will always be the biggest key to winning every single game. The Celtics are 4th with a defensive rating of 111.5. The Heat are 9th with a defensive rating of 112.7. The Celtics need to defend the perimeter since the Heat attempt 37.7 threes a game and shoot threes at 35.7%. They also have to defend the paint as the Heat are 3rd with 54.5 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 46.5 rebounds per game (4th) while the Heat average 46.6 rebounds per game (3rd). When the Celtics have more rebounds then their opponents, they are 38-11 when they have fewer rebounds, they are just 9-13. 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 32-2 when they have 25 or more assists in a game. They have to move the ball an find the open man without a lot of hero ball. The Heat are 5th in the league with 20.1 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
On the Road – The Celtics are on the road for the 3rd 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 lost their last game 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 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 (50-25) at Miami Heat (40-36)Wednesday, April 1, 20267:30 PM ETTV: ESPN, NBCSB, FDSN SunRegular Season Game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3778],"tags":[7,38331,144,295,189,3881,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-692550","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\/116331363256017391","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692550","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=692550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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