NBA Matchups: March 14

BOS @ MIA | IND @ PHI | LAC @ ATL | DAL @ HOU | CLE @ MEM | ORL @ MIN | CHA @ SAS | LAL @ DEN | TOR @ UTA | SAC @ PHX

Boston Celtics at Miami Heat

Team Totals: Celtics 110.8, Heat 102.8

Injury Report: Jaylen Brown (Q, knee), Jayson Tatum (Q, knee), Kristaps Porzingis (Q, illness), Derrick White (Q, knee), Al Horford (P, toe), Alec Burks (O, back)

Celtics projected starters: It’s setting up for a mass rest spot in a B2B, so tough to predict here.

Heat projected starters: Davion Mitchell, Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo, Kel’El Ware (Note: Think it’s likely that Haywood Highsmith starts over Ware)

Mazzulla quotes: Said the Thunder got too many FTAs and that was the difference (35-12), said they had too many bad fouls to give them 10ish points, said getting in the penalty early really hurt them and they couldn’t defend the way they wanted to, said they need to rebound better in the fourth quarter and improve their defensive tendencies.

Spo quotes: Said “it just takes a win” to turn it around, said Ware “just didn’t look right” against the Clippers (started Highsmith over Ware in second half), said Zubac “had his way” in the paint, said they did not have inspired play, said they need more energy and Pelle was a guy who brought it for them, said the Herro, Duncan, Wiggins, Pelle group had a lot of skill out there, said they need Wiggins to be a hub on offense while guarding the best guys.

Stats and Notes: 

*Yeah, the Celtics are on a B2B here with a game in Brooklyn tomorrow, so there’s just no reason to think they are going to play all their guys here. The Heat need all the help they can get, so Boston being really thin would go a long way. We’ll see how the Celtics play it here, but we can basically throw out the matchup stuff on them. Please just rule them out early in the day.

*For the Miami side, it should set up for Tyler Herro to be in a very favorable spot. The Celtics losing some length overall should make it much easier for Herro to get it going without much help. The Celtics also haven’t been using Jrue as much, and I’d doubt they go that route with Herro. He’s likely in a good spot here.

*Bam Adebayo’s matchup is also very unclear, but no Kristaps Porzingis could be a good thing for him. What could help him would be Kel’El Ware getting kicked out of the starting lineup. Ware did get cut out a good bit on Wednesday, and it’s becoming more likely that we get less of the Ware-Bam duo. That could really increase the rebounding and rim scoring for Bam, so I kind of like this spot. Bam just got 40 frontcourt touches per game in the last two, and the Celtics have usually let Bam get his.

*Andrew Wiggins’ matchup also swings a lot, and not guarding one of the Jays would go a long way. We’ve seen him get more chances on the ball and he saw 32 frontcourt touches in the last two games. Wiggins also has used 12 possessions as a PNR handler in the last two games, so that should hold up again. Plus, this depth is awful to force him to play in the mid-to-upper 30s in a close game.

*Kel’El Ware might lose his job, and the more the Celtics play their guys the worse the matchup gets. They’ll be unable to play Ware with the Celtics. We’ll see how this plays out on the injury report.

Too many Q tags here to break down the matchups

Indiana Pacers at Philadelphia 76ers