Heat face long odds
Miami, short-handed because of injuries, goes up against Celtics
BOSTON — Of the many ways you want to roll into a game against top team in the Eastern Conference, these are probably not high on the list:
Coming off a loss to the worst team in the NBA.
Still shorthanded to the point that Tuesday’s practice was reduced to a video session and walk through.
And against a team coming off arguably the most dramatic victory of the NBA season, a final-seconds steal and score to stun the Pacers in Indiana.
Other than that, the Miami Heat may have the Boston Celtics right where they want them tonight at TD Garden.
“They’ve been as consistent as any team in this league, from the very first night to now,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “So we understand how well we have to play, connected. And that’s our challenge.”
That connectivity again could be limited.
Because there was no actual drill work Tuesday, there was no update on the strained left knee that has had forward Justise Winslow out the past three games or the sore left elbow that had point guard Goran Dragic out for Monday’s disappointing 100-104 loss in Atlanta.
Beyond that, center Hassan Whiteside and forward James Johnson remain behind in South Florida, Whiteside with the bone bruise on his left knee that has had him out for the past 10 games, Johnson with the right ankle bursitis that has had him out Monday and will have him out at least three more games.
Because of the injuries, the Heat recalled guard Matt Williams from the development league, where he had been playing for the G League Sioux Falls Skyforce. Derrick Walton Jr., the Heat’s other player on a twoway contract, joined the team at the start of this injury run and played meaningful minutes in Atlanta.
Dragic said his swelling is down but the pain is still present.
“It’s not stiffening or loosing, it’s just the pain is always there. When you rotate the elbow on the outside, that’s what really bothers me,” he said of his shooting arm.
“I mean, I feel like I can fight through a lot of injuries. But this injury is kind of a specific one, because there’s so many aspects of the game that you need to do, especially when you’re passing the ball, when you’re shooting.”
No matter the roster, the Heat showed in the teams’ previous meeting they were capable of beating the odds, snapping the Celtics’ 16-game winning streak with a 104-98 victory on Nov. 22 at AmericanAirlines Arena, when the Heat stood just 7-9.
“It’s not necessarily even what we did that night,” Spoelstra said. “It’s more about us and committing to the things that are important to our success. And it sounds very obvious, but when we get away from that, we’ve paid the price, losing games.
“So, for us, we have to be able to defend at a high level, keep teams under 100 points. We have to play efficient offense, where it’s a collective effort, not necessarily one guy scoring 30 or 40. The last part of that efficiency is we have to take care of the basketball. When we have high numbers of turnovers, it makes it very tough for us to overcome that inefficiency to find a way to win.”
And then there is Celtics guard Kyrie Irving, who has scored 30 or more in three of the last four games, including 30 in Monday’s 122-121 victory in Indiana.
“That’s what the league is built on,” Spoelstra said, “is great players that present a lot of different challenges.”
And sometimes it’s just about being able to show up. That has guard Dion Waiters committed to again playing Wednesday, despite a stomach illness that had him retreating to the locker room after the first quarter of Monday’s loss in Atlanta to vomit.
To Waiters, as bad as 15-15 at this stage of the season might sound for the Heat, he said it still is easier to stomach that the 12-18 through 30 games last season.
“We’re in a different place than we were last year,” he said. “It was a dark place for us around this time. We’ve just got to find a way to put four, five, six, seven games together instead of win two, lose one, back and forth, back and forth.”