Celtics (16-2) at Heat (7-9) Game #19 11/22/17

[FLCeltsFan]

at
Boston Celtics (16-2) at Miami Heat (7-9)
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
7:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game [HASH]19, Road Game [HASH]11
TV: NBCBS, FS Sun, NBA-LP 757(DTV)/755(xfinity)
Radio: 100.7 WZLX, 790 The Ticket
American Airlines Arena


Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
vs
Kyrie Irving vs Goran Dragic

Shooting Guard
vs
Jaylen Brown vs Dion Waiters

Small Forward
vs
Jayson Tatum vs Josh Richardson

Power Forward
vs
Marcus Morris vs Justise Winslow

Center
vs
Al Horford vs Hassan Whiteside

Reserves
Shane Larkin
Abdel Nader
Semi Ojeleye
Daniel Theis
Guerschon Yabusele
Terry Rozier
Marcus Smart
Aron Baynes

Injuries
Gordon Hayward (ankle) out

Two Way Players
Kadeem Allen
Jabari Bird

Head Coach
Brad Stevens



Reserves
Wayne Ellington
AJ Hammons
Udonis Haslem
Tyler Johnson
James Johnson
Jordan Mickey
Kelly Olynyk
Bam Adebayo

Injuries
Rodney McGruder (tibia) out
Okaro White (foot) out

Two Way Players
Derrick Walton, Jr
Matt Williams, Jr

Coach
Erik Spoelstra

Game Notes
The Celtics complete their 3 game road trip with a visit to the Miami Heat. This is the second of 3 meetings this season. The Celtics won 96-90 when they met on October 28 in Miami. They will meet one more time in Boston on December 20. The Celtics have won 8 straight games vs the Heat including the last 5 games played in Miami.

In the Celtics win over Miami in October, Hassan Whiteside was out with a knee injury and so this is the first that the Celtics front line will face the Heat's 7' center. The Celtics were without Marcus Morris, who hadn't yet played due to the knee injury. This game ends the Celtics 3 game road trip and will end the Heat's 2 game home stand. The Heat are coming off their worst loss of the season at home, a 120-95 blowout at the hands of the Indiana Pacers.

Rodney McGruder (tibia) and Okaro White (foot) are both out for the Miami Heat. AJ Hammons is on assignment with the Heat's G-League team. The Celtics are healthy other than Gordon Hayward. Although, Brad Stevens has said that Marcus Morris is still on a minutes restriction and may sit out one of the Celtics back to back games on Friday or Saturday.

The starters listed here are from the teams' game notes. They may change by game time as the coaches consider matchups. The Celtics will face 2 former players who signed with the Heat this summer. Kelly Olynyk signed a 4 year, $50 million contract with the Heat while Jordan Mickey is signed for one year at the minimum.

Key Matchups
vs
Kyrie Irving vs Goran Dragic
Dragic is averaging 18.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.7 assists. Kyrie will need to make him work for his points and also on defense. Kyrie has looked more and more comfortable with each game and is coming off his best game as a Celtic and we can only hope to see more of that in this game.

vs
Jaylen Brown vs Dion Waiters
Waiters is averaging 15.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists and he is capable of having a big game if not kept in check. Jaylen has been playing very well on both ends of the court and he will need to keep that up in this game.

Honorable Mention
Al Horford vs Hassan Whiteside
Whiteside is averaging 16.2 points, 13.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. Al will need to keep Whiteside away from the paint to limit his rebounds and blocks. We may see Aron Baynes matched up with him if Al can't be physical enough with him to slow him down.

Terry Rozier vs Justise Winslow
Winslow was taken with the 10th pick in the 2015 draft. Word on draft night was that Danny was offering multiple picks in order to try to draft Winslow. When no one would take Danny's offers, he ended up drafting Terry Rozier at 16. Winslow is averaging 6.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists as a starter while Rozier is averaging 8.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists off the bench.

Keys to the Game
Defense
Defense wins games. The Celtics have won 16 games straight as a result of their tough and gritty defense. The Celtics are still tops in the league with a defensive rating of 95.8 while the Heat are 18th with a defensive rating of 103.9. The Celtics need to continue to make defense a priority and concentrate on keeping the Heat's offense off balance.

Rebound
The Heat are averaging 43.2 rebounds per game while the Celtics are averaging 47.8 rebounds per game. Crashing the boards will give the Celtics extra possessions as well as keeping the Heat from getting fast breaks and second chance points. The Celtics will need to continue to put extra effort into crashing the boards as a team.

Be Aggressive
The Celtics have to be aggressive in going to the basket and not settle for jumpers, especially if the jumpers aren't falling. They have to dive for loose balls and be aggressive in crashing the boards. They can't afford to slack off or to allow the Heat to play harder than them. They have to be the team that wants it more.

Play 48 Minutes- The Celtics have been in the habit of falling behind by double digits and then having to play extra hard to get back into the game. They need to play hard on both ends of the court from the opening tip to the final buzzer.

X-Factors
Road Game - The Celtics are a young team and are playing their third straight game on the road. Sometimes younger players struggle to keep their focus on the road. They have to block out the hostile crowd and they have to focus on playing the game and not allow the distractions of playing on the road take their minds off the game.

Revenge Factor - The Heat have lost 8 straight to the Celtics, including their first meeting this season. Kelly Olynyk and Jordan Mickey will want to beat their former team and they will be motivated to avenge those losses.

The Streak - The Celtics bring that 16 game win streak into the game and that puts a target on their backs. Every team wants to be the one that ends the Celtics' streak. The Celtics have to come into this game ready to do battle and not play down to the Heat because of their 7-9 record. The Heat will be gunning for them and they need to be ready.

[jmost]

I really hate games in Miami, mostly because IMO they have the most obnoxious PA announcer in the NBA. Sometimes I have to turn down the sound so he isn't as irritating.

I thought Miami would be better, given how good their record was in the second half of last year.

[afceltic]

I agree about the PA announcer, Atlanta's is almost as bad too.

[eja117]

This is a tough game, but I've definitely learned not to count out the Celts while there's time on the clock. KO....man I don't miss him

[eja117]

KO. He still can't box out. If he's not careful he'll get a rep as a guy that binds people's arms and shoulders and he'll have a significant consequence for that

[eja117]

So just now when Smart passed on a wide open 3 attempt to pass to Tatum for a contested three.....I'd like to thank him for that.

[afceltic]

I don't understand why Smart was allowed to play 34 minutes which was second highest for the game (tied with Tatum) and one minute behind AL. We can't score with him on the floor as it is 4 on 5 on offense. We really need to acquire someone or have one of the young backups step up and take about 15 of those minutes away from Smart to be a true contender.

[afceltic]

We lost this one at the FT line by missing 8 overall and by having Kyrie miss 3 and Al missing 2.

[DERRENMATTS]

Well, at least the monkey is off our backs now. We were going to lose another game at some point this season, and the longer our winning streak reached, the greater the pressure would have been.

Now we can work on our next 16 game streak.

[jmost]

One thing that happens when you keep winning games after falling behind by 15+ points is that you start to believe that you can always come back - and that cuts both ways. On the one hand, you have confidence that you're never out of it, and that's good. On the other hand, you may not be playing with full intensity all of the time because in the back of your mind you think you can turn it on when you need to, and that's bad. A loss may be just what they need.

[DERRENMATTS]

Nov 23, 2017 9:25:57 GMT -5 jmost said:

One thing that happens when you keep winning games after falling behind by 15+ points is that you start to believe that you can always come back - and that cuts both ways. On the one hand, you have confidence that you're never out of it, and that's good. On the other hand, you may not be playing with full intensity all of the time because in the back of your mind you think you can turn it on when you need to, and that's bad. A loss may be just what they need.

Right. There's a intricate line between playing lax and playing just enough to keep an opponent at bay.

I remember Jordan and the Bulls picking and choosing, during games, when to turn it up, and when to let the kettle simmer.

Obviously, if you go full steam the whole game, you'll wear yourself out. But you don't want to play lax and fall behind by 10+ pts.

That's the fine line we've got to learn.

[jmost]

When you know you're the class of the league, like the mid-80's Celts or 90's Bulls, you can flip the switch when you need to. We're not that good; not even with Hayward back next year. Maybe in a few years when Brown and Tatum are more developed and Kyrie and Gordon are still in their primes (and, with luck, Horford is still a factor) we'll be there. But for now, our success has to be built around playing hard all the time. Brad is keeping minutes down to the low 30's per game, so no one should be feeling worn out. It sure would help the cause though if the bench were producing.

[Roadrunner]

A respectable loss. A timely made basket, or FT makes the game a win. Glad BOS does not have Waiters. He has no conscience when shooting.