While it might not look that big compared to the New England Patriots vs. the Seattle Seahawks game later on the day, this is a key game for both the Boston Celtics and visiting Miami Heat.

Boston is right now 3.5 games behind seventh-placed Miami in the Eastern Conference standings, and a win here would help a lot to keep the playoff dreams alive while a loss could be a serious hit to those dreams.

On the other hand, Miami needs to win a game like this in order to stay ahead of a pack of five or six teams that could overtake them quite quickly if they run into a losing streak. Even the 12th-placed Indiana Pacers isare only four games behind them.

It is an understatement to call Hassan Whiteside's first 20 games for the Miami Heat a breakthrough. In those 20 games, he has averaged 8.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game, which might not sound so impressive, but he has started in only five of the last six games, and his per-36 minutes numbers are staggering: 17.5 points, 15.5 rebounds and 4.8 blocks. His Player Efficiency Rating for the season is 27.7, which leads all centers.

Whiteside even set a new franchise record by grabbing 14 rebounds in one quarter Friday night against the Dallas Mavericks. Last Sunday, he set a new franchise record with 12 blocks in one game on his way to a triple-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. That is a pretty impressive performance considering that Miami for several seasons was the home of two-time Defensive Player Of the Year Alonzo Mourning.

To be fair, we don't know whether Whiteside's numbers are sustainable for the long haul, but the 2011 second-round draft pick of the Sacramento Kings has definitely erased any questions about whether he can play in the league. The funny thing is that he delivered the same kind of numbers – except for the scoring – in his second season with Sacramento before he got waived after playing 18 games that season.

The Heat will be without hamstring-injured Dwyane Wade, who is not even with the team. Forward Luol Deng is considered day-to-day with a calf injury, and he will travel with the team to Boston. But since he never made it to questionable status before Friday night's game, he might sit this one out, too.

If Deng sits out, it will probably mean another start for former All Star Danny Granger, who is having probably the worst season of his career, not counting the five games he played in 2012-2013 after he came back from a knee injury

For the Celtics, Kelly Olynyk remains out for a couple of weeks with a high ankle sprain. Both Evan Turner and Avery Bradley played through minor thumb injuries on Friday and are expected to play in this game.

In the last game between the two ball clubs, in Miami on December 21, the Celtics got a 100-84 trouncing by a Heat team that was without both Wade and Chris Bosh. Instead, Deng carried the load with 23 points while rookie James Ennis had the best game of his career so far with 16 points and eight rebounds. In that game, the Celtics' rotations seemed a bit messed up after the Rajon Rondo trade that brought three Dallas Mavericks players to the roster. Of those three, only Jae Crowder remains in Boston.

Miami comes off a blowout loss at home against the Mavericks that hurts even more because they led by as much as 16 points in the third quarter when, suddenly, the tables turned, and they were steamrolled by a 37-2 run, mostly created by the Dallas bench. The biggest part of the run came right after Whiteside went to the bench late in the third quarter. Dallas went 21-0 before Whiteside returned, but he was unable to stop the tide. The team needs to shake this off before the game against Boston.

Boston has lost two games in a row and wants to stop the trend. But they have a much better experience to build on after they almost caught the Houston Rockets with a great defensive effort in the second half Friday night.

With Deng playing, Miami's starters will hold the upper hand against Boston's ditto and maybe even without him. The key matchups could be in the big man rotations. Can Boston contain the combined force of Bosh, Whiteside and Chris Andersen? Will Whiteside dominate the paint once again to keep the Celtics from using one of their main offensive weapons, their versatile big men?

The Celtics have relied a lot on their veterans' coming in from the bench in the last couple of weeks, and they might get Miami in trouble. Tayshaun Prince not only adds great defense and leadership to the young Boston team. It's a very small sample, but his offensive numbers are almost unreal with a true shooting percentage at 0.667 after his first seven games with the club, by far the best of his career. That is probably not sustainable, but so far it is a pleasant surprise for Boston. He and Marcus Thornton ensure that there is always an outside scoring threat from the wings, which make them great fits in coach Brad Stevens's system.

All in all, Miami will be the favorites if Deng dresses up, while Boston should be able to take advantage if he does not.

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About the author
Torkil Bang
Freelance journalist with a passion for basketball and other sports.