BOSTON CELTICS (33-18) at MIAMI HEAT (27-25)
Location: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub
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Max Shulga – OUT (G League, two-way)
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Jayson Tatum – OUT (right Achilles repair)
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John Tonje – AVAILABLE
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Nikola Vucevic – AVAILABLE
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Tyler Herro – OUT (right costochondral, injury to the ribs)
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Kasparas Jakucionis – AVAILABILE (left ankle inflammation)
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Jaime Jaquez Jr. – AVAILABLE (left knee sprain)
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Nikola Jovic – AVAILABLE (right hip impingement)
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Pelle Larsson – AVAILABLE (left thirdmallet finger)
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Davion Mitchell – AVAILABLE (left shoulder sprain)
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Terry Rozier – OUT (not with team)
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Dru Smith – AVAILABLE (left ankle soreness)
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Andrew Wiggins – AVAILABLE (left hamstring tightness)
What to watch for: It’s time for the Nikola Vucevic era in Boston. The Boston Celtics traded Anfernee Simons to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Vucevic on Tuesday, and he’ll make his TD Garden debut (and franchise debut) on Friday night.
Tale of the tape: The last time the Celtics and Miami Heat squared off was an instant classic.
Miami went up big early. The game was on track to be a blowout. Then, Simons came to life. He dropped 39 points to lead the Celtics’ 19-point comeback.
Prior to that game, the Celtics beat the Heat in Boston on December 19, led by Derrick White’s 33 points. Boston is 2-0 in the season series, with a chance to make it 3-0 on Friday night.
Last game: Boston is fresh off its best win of the season.
On Wednesday, they traveled to Houston for the second night of a back-to-back, having just beaten the Mavericks in Dallas the night before.
Jaylen Brown was out. Sam Hauser was out. Simons had just been traded, but the Celtics hadn’t gotten Vucevic into the fold because the deal wasn’t official yet.
So, Joe Mazzulla got creative. He rolled out a starting lineup of Ron Harper Jr., White, Baylor Scheierman, Luka Garza, and Queta, with Payton Pritchard coming off the bench.
And Boston absolutely dominated.
They won by 21 points and were up by 29 at one point. Ime Udoka and Alperen Sengun both got ejected. White scored 28, Pritchard had 27, Garza put up 19, and Queta snagged 19 rebounds. Meanwhile, in his first NBA start, Harper finished with 11 points, nine rebounds (four offensive), and three assists.
Standings check-in: Despite their recent streak of impressive play, the Celtics are still tied for second place in the East, as the New York Knicks have been just as hot. However, they are gaining a little bit of ground on the first-place Detroit Pistons.
The Celtics (and Knicks) are now just 4.5 games back of the Pistons and also have a 2.5-game lead over the Toronto Raptors in fourth place.
Heat check-in: Miami has been very up-and-down lately. They are just 5-5 in their last 10 games, and they’ve only won two in a row once in January.
Bam Adebayo has been leading the Heat in scoring lately, putting up 20.7 points in his last 10. However, he’s shooting just 41.8% from the field and 32.2% from deep (6.2 three-point attempts) in that span. Adebayo is also averaging 10.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.1 steals in his last 10.
First-time All-Star Norman Powell has been relatively cold as well. In his last seven appearances, he’s scoring 19.0 points but shooting just 40.2% from the floor and 26.7% from distance (6.4 three-point attempts).
Davion Mitchell and Keshad Johnson are the only Heat players shooting above 40% in Miami’s last 10 games, and each has logged just four appearances.
One fun play: This was a great play by the Celtics, especially considering they were running double bigs at the time.
Queta goes to set a screen for White, but he slips it. However, Jabari Smith Jr. was already in the process of stepping up, and Sengun didn’t react in time.
So, when Garza went to set the second of Boston’s double screens, Sengun had a choice to make. And he didn’t make it fast enough.
Sengun should have sprinted back to cover Queta’s roll, but he was guarding Garza, who was up at the three-point line, setting a screen.
White had an easy pass to a cutting Queta, who finished the bucket despite Tari Eason’s help from the corner.
