Final: Heat 121, Celtics 100 - Late run blows open games for Miami

The Boston Celtics face the Miami Heat in their final preseason game tonight at 6:30 and Jayson Tatum is lone projected starter in the game. Jaylen Brown and Al Horford are both still in health and safety protocols, Marcus Smart is suspended, and now Robert Williams is out with right knee tendinitis.

We'll see what the extent of the knee soreness is for Williams. It could just be a case of overdoing it a little bit and taking a day off to calm the knee down. That leaves Tatum as the lone starter along with at least a couple of regulars in Dennis Schröder and Josh Richardson getting closer to normal minutes.

"The starting guys we know are out there, we’ll ramp them up a little more, but we’re also being cautious with the guys missing," Ime Udoka said. "We don’t want to overload them as guys have been missing in the preseason so far. But we do want to build on that 24, 28 minutes in the second game, and try to get them up a little bit higher. But at the same time be cautious and smart, especially in the last game of the preseason with the guys already out."

This leaves a huge opportunity for the young guys and the end of bench competition. That competition no longer includes Ryan Arcidiacono or Juwan Morgan, who are reportedly being waived. Those were the two lowest-odds guys in my handicapping of the chase for 15th, so this should be no surprise. 

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