Celtics, Heat Square Off In Potential Playoff Matchup
The Boston Celtics will play the Miami Heat on Tuesday at Orlando.

The Celtics (44-22) have gone 1-1 since the league restarted on July 31 -- they kicked things off with a 119-112 loss against the Milwaukee Bucks, but they bounced back fairly quickly and are coming off a massive 128-124 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday. The Celtics have been slightly inconsistent in their recent games, though, as they have posted a 2-3 mark in their last five games if including the games prior to the league suspension in March, and a 4-6 record if including the scrimmages at Orlando.

Boston does not list any absentees due to injury, so Brad Stevens will have his team at full strength once again. Kemba Walker has been dealing with a sore knee, however, and he has been limited to a 23-minute restriction so far in Orlando -- that is not likely to change until he recovers completely.

On the other hand, the Heat (42-25) have also gone 1-1 in the restart of the regular season, as they started with a 125-105 win over the Denver Nuggets but later lost 107-103 against the Toronto Raptors on Monday. Just like the Celtics, Miami have also gone 2-3 in their last five regular season contests and this game could be pivotal in the race for the third seed in the Eastern Conference, as Boston have two more wins than the Heat while playing one fewer game -- in other words, this is a must-win game for the Heat.

Miami features a clean bill of health for this game, so Erik Spoelstra will be able to assemble the rotations as he pleases. Jimmy Butler, Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo were some of the players that were questionable for Monday's tilt against the Raptors, but all of them managed to play without further issues.

This will be the third meeting between these two teams this season, and the Celtics currently hold a 2-0 lead in the series.
Posted on: 8/3/2020 1:49 PM
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