The Miami Heat are on the road again after a long home stretch and a thrilling three-overtime game in their last contest against the Toronto Raptors. On Monday, they’ll head to Massachusetts to take on an Eastern Conference nemesis, the Boston Celtics in a 7:30 pm Eastern Time national TV game on NBA TV.
Miami is beginning a six-game road stretch after going three of four at home, picking up wins against the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, and Los Angeles Clippers before losing to Toronto in a road trip of a game itself.
Players to Watch
Jimmy Butler is the man to watch on the road, as he put up another triple-double against the Raptors. He will look to continue leading the Miami Heat in late-game situations with his terrific individual and team play.
He should continue to be the main factor for Miami on both ends of the court. Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, and P.J. Tucker should also be huge factors too, as they are in most games with their range shooting and overall scoring.
Robinson, being the most effective three-point shooter during the home stretch, will look to get back on track after being cold in the game against Toronto Raptors. He will need to get back on track if the Miami Heat are to bounce back as they should.
The Miami Heat are on the road after a long home stretch, heading to Massachusetts to take on the Boston Celtics. Here is what to expect.
The Heat will need to get Bam Adebayo involved down in the paint and early. As he typically does, though a bit less effective than we are used to in the last game or so, they need him to be more of a factor on the defensive end.
He will need to be focused and with an eye towards avoiding foul trouble, as he will match up against two pretty decent bigs. That will be the big and athletic Robert Williams and the crafty veteran in Al Horford.
Keys To The Game
1. Closing The Game: Miami has had trouble in its past few games when it comes to closing the game out, allowing teams to come back or be better than them in those moments. The Heat will need to finish out strong and not allow easy buckets in winning time.
Hopefully though, this one isn’t that close in the end anyway.
2. Don’t Allow Celtics Stars To Get Hot: With Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, among others, on the other side of the ball, they know how to control the momentum of a game early. Miami will need to focus its attention on slowing down their guys, not allowing any of them to get hot and find their rhythm early.
3. Keep The Entire Team Engaged: Miami was really decent at finding the open man in the home streak. They will need to carry that over on the road stretch and keep finding the open man whenever they can.
To that point, they’ll also need to be sure to continue to trust one another in late-game situations.
Game Prediction
These two rivals have been known to deliver every time they play each other and this game should be no different. Miami will have to play team ball and stop the Boston Celtics from exploding offensively.
Miami will win in a close overtime game against the Celtics, 115-110.