Celtics and Heat Set for South Florida Battle
The Boston Celtics take on the Miami Heat at FTX Arena on Wednesday night in Game 5 of their Western Conference Finals series. The series is tied 2-2.

The Celtics (2-2) were already in do-or-die mode for Monday night's Game 4, even though they were only down 2-1 in the series. Despite being without Marcus Smart (ankle), Boston came out of the gates with an unparalleled sense of urgency and never looked back, establishing an 18-1 lead through the first 8:27 and building a 24-point lead by halftime. Jayson Tatum paced the Celtics with 31 points, complementing them with eight rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Payton Pritchard delivered 14 points, three assists, two rebounds, one steal and one block. Derrick White registered 13 points, eight rebounds, six assists, three steals and one block. Robert Williams and Jaylen Brown generated matching 12-point efforts while pulling down nine and seven rebounds, respectively.

The Celtics will list Smart and Williams (knee) as questionable for Wednesday's game.

The Heat (2-2) were so out of sorts Monday that they missed their first 14 shots -- becoming the first team in 25 years to do so in a postseason game -- and saw their starting five combine for only 18 points but calling it a night. Victor Oladipo led the Heat with 23 points, adding six assists and four rebounds. Duncan Robinson furnished 14 points, four rebounds and two steals. Caleb Martin supplied 12 points, six boards and one assist. Bam Adebayo totaled nine points, six rebounds and two assists. Jimmy Butler shot just 3-for-14 on the way to six points, seven rebounds and one assist.

The Heat will list Kyle Lowry (hamstring), Max Strus (hamstring), Tyler Herro (groin), Gabe Vincent (hamstring) and P.J. Tucker (knee) as questionable for Wednesday's game.

Wednesday's game marks the eighth meeting between the teams since the start of the regular season. The Celtics have won four of the first seven games.
Posted on: 5/24/2022 8:02 PM