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GAME PREVIEW: Heat host Celtics on ESPN Wednesday night

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The Miami Heat will host the Boston Celtics for an Eastern Conference Finals rematch.

By Matt Pineda
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Boston Celtics v Miami Heat - Game Six Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

GAME STORY

The Miami Heat are hosting the Boston Celtics in a rematch of the Eastern Conference Finals from a few months ago.

The Heat learned their lesson last week when the Milwaukee Bucks came to Miami for playoff revenge and dropped the Heat by 47 points (without Jimmy Butler). Now, the Celtics will be looking for a bit of that action as well.

Bam Adebayo recognized this and said, “The Bucks just beat us by 47! You don’t think they [Celtics] have attitude or grudge about the East Finals? Yeah, they’ll have a chip on their shoulders.”

Jayson Tatum is coming off a 40-point outing against the Raptors and will be one of the big problems for the Heat alongside Jaylen Brown. The Celtics have been using the big lineup of Theis and Thompson and so the Heat will likely counter with Olynyk to start. The Celtics don’t have the depth that Miami does, and so Goran off the bench is going to be huge for the Heat.

With Marcus Smart and Jeff Teague questionable, their absence would really help the Heat guards. Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson and Goran Dragic will be able to have their way without Smart in the linuep, with him there — he makes the game tougher for one of them at a time.

Expect a good, close and competitive game. If the Heat are making outside shots, they have a great chance to pull away and win.

ODDS: FiveThirtyEight gives the Heat a 55% chance to win the game.

HEAT VS CELTICS: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6 AT 7:30 PM.

INJURIES

MIAMI:

  • Gabe Vincent, Probable
  • Moe Harkless, Questionable

BOSTON:

  • Kemba Walker, OUT
  • Romeo Langford, OUT
  • Marcus Smart, QUESTIONABLE
  • Jeff Teague, QUESTIONABLE
  • Javonte Green, OUT-COVID-19

LINEUPS

Projected Starters

Clippers Position Heat
Clippers Position Heat
Reggie Jackson PG Kyle Lowry
Paul George SG Tyler Herro
Kawhi Leonard SF Jimmy Butler
Marcus Morris Sr. PF Caleb Martin
Ivica Zubac C Bam Adebayo

BROADCAST INFO

TV: ESPN, FOX SPORTS SUN
RADIO: The Ticket 790AM & The HEAT Radio Network (Mike Inglis, Ruth Riley Hunter)
SPANISH RADIO: WAQI 710AM & The HEAT Spanish Radio Network (José Pañeda, Joe Pujala)

Come back to Hot Hot Hoops at game time to join our GameThread and chat about the game live with other Heat fans!

Can we have more of this please?

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