(Photo via Miami Heat/X)
The Miami Heat finally picked up an encouraging win in their previous Monday night win over the Philadelphia 76ers. A late run fueled by multiple clutch buckets from Tyler Herro secured the victory, snapping a two-game skid.
However, Miami faces a daunting task in hopes of avoiding returning to the loss column— as they are now set to host the rival Boston Celtics. Boston is currently the second seed in the Eastern Conference at a 50-25 record, following an impressive season in which they were once projected to take a gap year amid Jayson Tatum’s achilles recovery. They are 7-3 in their last 10 games, 3-0 against Miami this year and will aim for the 4-0 season series sweep.
Out of the three Heat-Celtics matchups, this will be the first that Miami sees Tatum on the floor, posing as an even more difficult opponent than what they’ve already been throughout the year. Jaylen Brown has continued his MVP caliber campaign as well. Brown is averaging 28.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.2 steals on 47% shooting.
For the Heat, Andrew Wiggins has returned to the injury report with the same toe injury that kept him for extended time recently. He is listed as questionable, and Norman Powell is sidelined again for the fourth straight outing, too. Wiggins availability will be worth monitoring ahead of tip-off, as his 3 & D efforts would be crucial against the likes of Brown and Tatum.
Tonight’s Heat-Celtics matchup will be nationally televised on ESPN.
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Boston Celtics:
- Ron Harper Jr. (ankle) — QUESTIONABLE
- Amari Williams (g-league) — QUESTIONABLE
- John Tonje (g-league) — OUT
- Max Shulga (g-league) — OUT
- Nikola Vucevic (finger) — OUT
Miami Heat:
- Andrew Wiggins (toe) — QUESTIONABLE
- Norman Powell (upper respiratory) — OUT
- Terry Rozier (not with team) — OUT
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Boston Celtics:
- Derrick White, G
- Baylor Scheierman, G
- Jaylen Brown, F
- Jayson Tatum, F
- Luka Garza, C
Miami Heat:
- Davion Mitchell, G
- Tyler Herro, G
- Pelle Larsson, F
- Andrew Wiggins, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 7:30 PM EST
- TV: ESPN & FanDuel Sports Network Sun (Eric Reid & John Crotty)
- Radio: AM 560 Sports WQAM & The HEAT Radio Network (Jason Jackson)
- Spanish Radio: WAQI 710 AM & The HEAT Spanish Radio Network (José Pañeda)
Come back to Hot Hot Hoops at game time to join our GameThread and chat about the game live with other Heat fans!
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Rest Bam. Get ready for play-in lol
This is going to be tough. Boston is healthy and we are missing at least one important player, maybe two.
Hawks beat the Celtics last game. No excuses tonight
It’s not if you win or lose, but how you play the game. Will Miami maintain its defensive intensity two games in a row or revert back to its previous mediocrity? It should be interesting if nothing else.
pelle dav jjj wigg bam all plus defenders theres a reason why d is bad ty ware fonzi hard to believe ware is a minus defensively what a lazy dude that bro is
So are we going from BamWare, BamWare, BamWare to noWare, noWare, noWare?
wares been spostrasized im saying inside he hates spo cause of his sporadic usage.not sure who ware is quite yet jury still out
You forgot Powell. Can’t play him together with Herro.
norms better defender than ty.but hes old oft injured cya free up some $$,need size or pg to many 64 guys on fn team
ive mention that lots times lebron