Final: Heat 106, Celtics 98 - Boston withers down the stretch

GAME 77
Boston Celtics (47-29, 26-12 home, 3rd East) vs. Miami Heat (48-28, 21-16 road, 1st East)
TD Garden
7:30 PM - NBC Sports Boston, ESPN

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

Boston: Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Grant Williams, Al Horford

Miami: Kyle Lowry, Max Strus, Jimmy Butler, PJ Tucker, Bam Adebayo

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- It's Tommy Heinsohn night at the Garden.

- Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are in.

Both had been nursing sore knees. Both are back tonight.

- Al Horford is back.

He was out for personal reasons. 

- Miami injuries: Caleb Martin (calf), Ducan Robinson (non-COVID illness), and Gabe Vincent (toe) are all questionable 

- Boston is favored by 5

GOING A LITTLE DEEPER

- Robert Williams surgery “went as well as it could.”

Ime Udoka sounded optimistic before the game when it game to Robert Williams surgery. 

"The surgery went as well as it could,” he said. “You look at that 4-6 week window and look at cases in the past and how fast guys can come back. So he'll hit the ground running pretty much tomorrow (with his rehab) and try to get some two-a-day work in and try to ramp it up from there. Like I said, the surgery went well and he has the best-case scenario we could be looking for."

The decision to have this particular surgery was, according to Udoka, a function of where the tear was in the meniscus. The option to repair the meniscus versus shave off the torn portion was left up to the surgeon. 

“Once they looked at the knee, it was (based on) where the tear is at,” Udoka said. “Sewn up is a long-term thing where you’re out for most of the year. Colin Sexton and some guys have had that this year and been out all year. Then there’s where you snip the piece - that’s what (Rob) had due to where the tear was.”

In the meantime, the Celtics will try different options to make up for the loss of Williams. Tonight it’s Grant Williams getting the starting nod. The team may go in a different direction if it sees fit. 

“Who does what well. Al has done both, Daniel can do both,” Udoka said. “We’ve done that at times this year, different coverages where Daniel is switching or playing more traditional. Grant has at times also. We feel more confident with the three bigs we’ll kind of spin around, the versatility that they have. It’s not the same as Rob from the shot blocking perspective and things like that, but lot of the similar things he was doing on and off-ball they’re very capable of.”

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Rotation experiments: The news on Williams is good, all things considered, so the Celtics might not feel the need to go too deep into their book of tricks tonight. But it’s also worth watching how Udoka uses his bigs and where he deploys certain guys. There might be times where you say to yourself “what is he doing with these substitutions?” That's almost assuredly the result of trying to make up for the loss of Williams in creative ways. There might be some searching for shooting on the perimeter, there might be a look at different big-man alignments, or it could be something else. 

2. New wrinkles vs. keeping it simple: This is a potential playoff matchup somewhere along the way, so I’ll be curious if one of these teams tosses something new into the mix just to throw the other one off. It could be Boston dropping into a zone, or trying a different offensive alignment. Is it a decoy? Is it a tipped hand?

3. Boston vs. Miami zone: Zone defense has been kryptonite for the Celtics most of the season. They have gotten better at it, but also they haven't faced a zone as good as Miami’s. Kind of playing off number 2, will Boston drop a new alignment to combat the zone that makes Miami think twice about deploying it later? Will the Celtics just try to bust through it with a simple attack-the-gaps strategy? Will it just throw them off completely? 

GAME THREAD

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