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Miami Heat (28-12) at Boston Celtics (20-23)
Sunday, January 27, 2013
1:00 PM ET
Regular Season Game #44,  Home Game #23
TV:  ABC, TSN
Radio:  WEEI, WAXY, ESPNR
TD Garden 
Referees:  Danny Crawford,  Mark Lindsay, Gary Zielinski

Ray Allen returns to the Garden for the first time as the Celtics host the Miami Heat.   This is the second of 4 meetings between these two teams.  They met in Miami on opening night of the season.  After the Heat received their rings and raised the championship banner, they beat the Celtics 120-102. 

Last season the Celtics won the series 3-1 and they have a 9 game winning streak against the Heat in the Garden.  The return of Ray and the fans reaction to him will be a big story,  but the bigger story will be whether the Celtics can finally snap out of their funk and end their 6 game losing streak.   

The Celtics and the Heat are at opposite ends of the playoff teams in the East.  The Heat are in first place, 9.5 games ahead of the Celtics, who are in the 8th spot.  The Heat have won their last 4 games while the Celtics have lost their last 6 games.   The Celtics are 4-6 in their last 10 games while the Heat are 6-4.   The Celtics are 13-9 at home while the Heat are 10-9 on the road. 

If the Celtics play the way they did in the first half of the game vs the Hawks, they can win this game.   If they play the way they did in the second half of the Hawks game,  they probably will be blown out.   We never know which team will show up.  But, if they can't get up for this game and give 100% effort,  I'm not sure what can motivate them. 

Probable Starting Matchups
Point Guard
vs
Rajon Rondo vs Mario Chalmers

Shooting Guard
  vs 
Avery Bradley vs Dwyane Wade

Small Forward
vs
Paul Pierce vs LeBron James

Power Forward
vs
Brandon Bass vs Udonis Haslem

Center
vs
Kevin Garnett vs Chris Bosh 



Boston's Reserves
Jared Sullinger
Jason Collins
Jason Terry
Jeff Green
Leandro Barbosa
Chris Wilcox
Courtney Lee

Injuries
None

D-League
Fab Melo
 

Miami's Reserves
Rashard Lewis
Ray Allen
Shane Battier
Norris Cole
Mike Miller
Joel Anthony
James Jones
Dexter Pittman
Chris Andersen
Jarvis Varnado

Injuries
None  

Key Matchups
  vs 
Rajon Rondo vs Mario Chalmers
Rondo is coming off two straight triple doubles in consecutive losses.    Rondo needs to run more and advance the ball with passes rather than walking the ball up the court.   He also needs to stick with Chalmers who has a way of hitting big shots against the Celtics. 

  vs 
Paul Pierce vs LeBron James
This is always a tough matchup for any team.  Expect Jeff Green to get the call to cover LeBron some of the time in this game.  Green has been effective in the past guarding him and so should take some of the pressure off of Pierce by doing so.   Pierce

Honorable Mention
Avery Bradley vs Dwyane Wade
Avery Bradley proved to be a Wade stopper last season before his injury.  Hopefully he will pick up right where left off last season.   Also, with Avery's offense coming back, he should make Wade have to work on the defensive end as well. 

Keys to the Game
Defense
 Both teams pride themselves on their defense, although the Celtics have only played defense in spurts this season.     Defense is always a key to winning and if the Celtics want to win this game, they will have to play lock down team defense for 48 minutes. 

Rebound
The Heat are the only team in the league that rebound worse than the Celtics.      The Celtics need to crash the boards and prevent the Heat from getting second chance baskets and tip ins.  They can also limit Miami's fast breaks  and get some fast break opportunities of their own by crashing the boards as well. 

Be Aggressive
When the Celtics are aggressive they are tough to beat.  They have to be aggressive in going to the basket and not settle for jumpers, especially if they aren't falling.  The Celtics second unit was aggressive in driving and defending and going after loose balls against the Hawks and built a 27 point lead.  The starters came back in and were passive and lost the lead and the game. 

X-Factors
Officiating and Effort
We know that the Heat get special treatment from the refs.  A player as physical as LeBron can't go weeks without getting called for a foul without the refs letting him get away with a lot.    We can only hope for the refs to be at least semi-fair in this one.   The Celtics also need to give 100% effort for 48 minutes if they want to win this game.