The more games we watch in this series, the more we see that Game 2 victory for Miami was an outlier. The Heat find themselves on the brink of elimination heading into Game 5 at TD Garden, after failing to crack the 100 point mark for the 2nd consecutive game in a 102-88 loss on Monday. Once again they’re 13.5 point underdogs, making the spread bet a tempting one as they’ve covered in 6 of their last 8 road games in Boston. Kristaps Porzingis not playing also helps them a little, in their only win in the series they held him to just 9 points, so it’s pretty clear when they shut him down it gives them a higher chance of winning. However, the three-point shooting will have to pick up. Following the 23 threes scored in Game 2, the Heat followed it up with back-to-back nights of just 9 threes made.
With 3 Western Conference teams already through to the next round, the Celtics have the opportunity to become the first team in the East to do so. With 5 wins over their last 6 games overall and 16 in their last 18 at home, a lot of people will be tipping the Celtics to finish the job here. However, inexperience is something that could cost them. Head coach Joe Mazzulla doesn’t have nearly as much experience in closeout games as Erik Spoelstra does. The Heat head coach is 23-13 SU in closeout games, that should send out a clear warning for the Celtics not to relax in this game. Derrick White had the game of his career in Game 4 finishing with 38 points, without Porzingis roaming the perimeter, White might have to put in extra work in this game as well for Boston to get a result.
