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Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« on: January 31, 2015, 08:59:21 PM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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Miami Heat (20-26) at Boston Celtics (16-29)
Sunday, February 1, 2015
1:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #46, Home Game #24
TV: CSNNE, SunSports, NBA-LP 751(DTV)/751/752(Xfinity)
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, 104.2 The Ticket
TD Garden



Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
  vs
Evan Turner vs Shabazz Napier

Shooting Guard
vs
Avery Bradley vs Mario Chalmers

Small Forward
vs
Jae Crowder vs Danny Granger

Power Forward

vs
Brandon Bass vs Chris Bosh

Center
vs
Jared Sullinger vs Hassan Whiteside




Celtics Reserves
Phil Pressey
Tyler Zeller
Gerald Wallace
Marcus Thornton
Tayshaun Prince
Shavlik Randolph
James Young
Marcus Smart

Injuries
Kelly Olynyk (ankle) out
Evan Turner (thumb) probable
Avery Bradley (thumb)  probable

D-League Assignment
Andre Dawkins
James Young

Head Coach
Brad Stevens


Heat Reserves
Norris Cole
Justin Hamilton
Udonis Haslem
James Ennis
Andre Dawkins
Chris Andersen
Shawne Williams

Injuries
Dwyane Wade (hamstring) out
Josh McRoberts (meniscus) out
Luol Deng (calf) day to day

Head Coach

Erik Spoelstra

Game Notes
While most of New England will be thinking about the Patriots in the Super Bowl, the Celtics will be thinking about their own playoff hopes.  They begin a stretch of 4 very winnable games against teams under .500 as they host the Miami Heat.   Both teams come into this game on 2 game losing streaks.  The Celtics are 9-14 at home while the Heat are 12-11 on the road.

Dwyane Wade is expected to miss this game with a strained hamstring.  Wade is the Heat's leading scorer at 21.4 points per game and so they will need step up to replace his production.  The Heat already struggle to score and are 28th in the league scoring only 92.7 points per game.   Josh McRoberts will also be out with a torn meniscus.  Luol Deng is listed as day to day with a calf injury.

This is the second of 4 games between these two teams.  The Heat won the first meeting in Miami 100-84.  They will meet twice more in March.  The Heat are in the 7th spot in the East, just 3.5 games ahead of the Celtics, who remain 2.5 games back of the final playoff spot. 

Key Matchups
vs
Jared Sullinger vs Hassan Whiteside
This could be a tough matchup for Jared Sullinger.  Whitside has been playing extremely well for the Heat recently.  In January, he is averaging 13.0 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 3.36 blocks.  He has had 6 double doubles and a triple double in his last 10 games.  Against the Mavs he finished with 16 points and 24 rebounds, including 14 rebounds in the first quarter alone.  Against the Bulls, he finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds and 12 blocks.  He also had 23 points and 16 rebounds off the bench against the Clippers big front line.  It will be important to box him out and keep him away from the basket. 

vs
Brandon Bass vs Chris Bosh
Bosh is the Heat's high scorer now that Wade is out.  He is averaging 21.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.  He is a threat from beyond the arc as well as inside and so the Celtics need to guard him closely both inside and out. 

Keys to the Game

Defense
Defense wins games. The Celtics played some good defense in spurts on their road trip and they played very good defense in the second half of Friday's game against the Rockets.  The Heat are allowing just 96.4 points per game (2nd best in the league) while the Celtics are allowing 103.5 points per game (6th worst).  Defense will be a big key to getting a win.

Rebound

The Heat are dead last in the league in rebounding, pulling down just 20.4 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. However, Hassan Whiteside has been cleaning up on the glass in recent games and the Celtics need to work hard to win the rebounding battle.   The Heat are 11-4 when out rebounding their opponents and the Celtics need to keep them off the boards if they want to win this one. 

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. The starters need to come out and play aggressively from the beginning and the second unit needs to come in and pick up where they leave off. They have to attack the basket and be aggressive on defense for the whole 48 minutes. No letting up. 

Run and Take it to the Hoop
The Celtics need to run on every possession. They have the legs to keep it up and not let up and to tire the Heat out. The Celtics also have to go to the basket and not settle for jumpers.  Every game they have offensive droughts when their shots just won't go. When that happens, they have to go inside and not continue to hoist up jumpers.   Had Sully gone inside to the hoop on some of those 3 pointers he hoisted at the end of the last game, the Celtics may have won the game. 

X-Factors
Effort and Home

The Celtics are home once again and should get a boost from the home crowd.  They have to put out the effort to outplay the Heat from the start and keep it up throughout.  The Heat are 19-2 when leading after the 3rd quarter and so the Celtics must start strong and keep it up throughout.   They can't dig a hole and expect to come back and get the win. 
« Last Edit: January 31, 2015, 10:54:26 PM by FLCeltsFan »

Re: Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2015, 09:07:19 PM »

Offline hwangjini_1

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Thanks FLC and a tp for another great thread.

Will be fun to watch whiteside.

Gooooo celtics!!

P.s. the binoculars for Miami are bigger than those for the celtics. Maybe change that.  ;D
I believe Gandhi is the only person who knew about real democracy — not democracy as the right to go and buy what you want, but democracy as the responsibility to be accountable to everyone around you. Democracy begins with freedom from hunger, freedom from unemployment, freedom from fear, and freedom from hatred.
- Vandana Shiva

Re: Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2015, 09:35:38 PM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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Thanks hwangjini_1 and a TP to you for being the first to post in the thread.   Sorry about the size of the binoculars but that's the size they were on the site. 

Re: Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2015, 10:55:26 PM »

Offline FLCeltsFan

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P.s. the binoculars for Miami are bigger than those for the celtics. Maybe change that.  ;D
Ok, that started to bug me so I just changed it from the binoculars to rubber duckies :) 

Re: Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« Reply #4 on: February 01, 2015, 06:38:12 AM »

Offline soulman

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Thanks FLC and a tp for another great thread.

Will be fun to watch whiteside.

Gooooo celtics!!

P.s. the binoculars for Miami are bigger than those for the celtics. Maybe change that.  ;D

he will destroy us, where is the fun it that?

Re: Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« Reply #5 on: February 01, 2015, 08:01:30 AM »

Offline mr. dee

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The team must outwork the old heat team. I think the gameplan is letting Whiteside be dominant and contain his team instead. Against the Mavs, his teammates are nowhere to be found. He was pretty impressive and the others just sucked. We should take advantage on that.

Re: Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« Reply #6 on: February 01, 2015, 11:13:50 AM »

Offline hwangjini_1

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P.s. the binoculars for Miami are bigger than those for the celtics. Maybe change that.  ;D
Ok, that started to bug me so I just changed it from the binoculars to rubber duckies :)
rubber ducks work for me. thanks for the change.  :)
I believe Gandhi is the only person who knew about real democracy — not democracy as the right to go and buy what you want, but democracy as the responsibility to be accountable to everyone around you. Democracy begins with freedom from hunger, freedom from unemployment, freedom from fear, and freedom from hatred.
- Vandana Shiva

Re: Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« Reply #7 on: February 01, 2015, 12:15:47 PM »

Offline Celtics4ever

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Supposedly, Sullinger is not starting because he was late for a walk through.

Re: Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« Reply #8 on: February 01, 2015, 12:26:24 PM »

Offline Eddie20

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Whiteside scores on either lobs or putbacks. He's not a guy that'll get the ball in the post and make a move or shoot jumpers. The Heat offense implements spacing and that helps him a lot.

This is a pretty good breakdown of it:

http://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/236432/The-Advent-Of-Hassan-Whiteside


Quote
Like Birdman, Whiteside isn’t being asked to do much on the offensive end of the floor. With Bosh spreading the floor from the PF position, Miami runs a pure 4-out system that creates a ton of room for Whiteside to roll to the rim on the pick-and-roll. Probably the most underrated part of his game are his hands, which allow him to vacuum almost any type of pass around him. Whiteside already has great chemistry with Wade on the two-man game and his offensive efficiency numbers are off the charts:



Quote
In essence, playing in Spoelstra’s system has turned Whiteside from a fringe NBA player to one of the most valuable players in the league. That’s the beauty of playing 4-out basketball and allowing guys to operate in maximum space. Whiteside doesn’t need to overthink the action on offense - see the ball, catch the ball, dunk the ball. For as well as guys like Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and Klay Thompson have played, it’s hard to see anyone competing with Whiteside for Most Improved Player if he keeps this pace up.

Re: Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« Reply #9 on: February 01, 2015, 12:42:04 PM »

Offline Who

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I think Bass will do well against Bosh. Bass' high level (PF) lateral quickness defensively is exactly the sort of defender that can disrupt Bosh's game. Make it difficult for Bosh to score in one vs one situations where Bosh relies heavily on having a quickness advantage over opponent. I think that matchup will be a lot closer than expected.

Not optimistic about Whiteside vs Zeller though. I think Whiteside is too quick and athletic for Zeller and that his athleticism will cause Zeller problems. In transition, in pick and rolls, on cuts and in offensive rebounding sequences. Whiteside should be able to out-quick and out-jump Zeller on frequent basis to create easy scoring opportunities for himself as garbage man scorer.

Re: Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« Reply #10 on: February 01, 2015, 12:48:17 PM »

Offline greece66

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Important game tonight.
Hope for the best.

Re: Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« Reply #11 on: February 01, 2015, 01:11:39 PM »

Offline greece66

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what's the story with sully?

Re: Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« Reply #12 on: February 01, 2015, 01:12:15 PM »

Offline Nerf DPOY

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Whiteside scores on either lobs or putbacks. He's not a guy that'll get the ball in the post and make a move or shoot jumpers. The Heat offense implements spacing and that helps him a lot.

This is a pretty good breakdown of it:

http://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/236432/The-Advent-Of-Hassan-Whiteside


Quote
Like Birdman, Whiteside isn’t being asked to do much on the offensive end of the floor. With Bosh spreading the floor from the PF position, Miami runs a pure 4-out system that creates a ton of room for Whiteside to roll to the rim on the pick-and-roll. Probably the most underrated part of his game are his hands, which allow him to vacuum almost any type of pass around him. Whiteside already has great chemistry with Wade on the two-man game and his offensive efficiency numbers are off the charts:



Quote
In essence, playing in Spoelstra’s system has turned Whiteside from a fringe NBA player to one of the most valuable players in the league. That’s the beauty of playing 4-out basketball and allowing guys to operate in maximum space. Whiteside doesn’t need to overthink the action on offense - see the ball, catch the ball, dunk the ball. For as well as guys like Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and Klay Thompson have played, it’s hard to see anyone competing with Whiteside for Most Improved Player if he keeps this pace up.

I don't doubt this is all true, but it's funny to me the first thing he does in this game is an impressive spin move in the post. ;D

Re: Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« Reply #13 on: February 01, 2015, 01:14:08 PM »

Offline jpotter33

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Tell me again why Turner is still starting for us.

Re: Heat (20-26) at Celtics (16-29) Game #46 2/1/15
« Reply #14 on: February 01, 2015, 01:14:32 PM »

Offline MarcusStart

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Turner starts the game with a turnover and a foul.

Can you hear me shaking my head.