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Celtics Try To Beat the Heat at the Garden

	VS.
23-33	Record	36-20
98.1	PPG	100.5
99.7	PPGA	96.2
46.7	FG%	48.0
45.4	Opp. FG%	43.6
39.8	Rebounds	43.2
21.0	Assists	20.9
15.8	Turnovers	13.8
6.8	Steals	6.2
5.4	Blocks	5.9
0-1	Season Series	1-0

The Miami Heat are among the hottest teams in the NBA, winners of six straight games and 17 of their last 22 as they come to Boston tonight. But despite their 36-20 record, the Heat are only 15-14 on the road and haven't played incredibly well away from Miami.

There's plenty of familiar faces on the Heat, as Antoine Walker and Gary Payton have joined Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade in their quest to make a run at the NBA title.

As for the Celtics, they're playing their best basketball of the season, coming off of a 3-1 West Coast road trip, and a month where Paul Pierce led the NBA in scoring. Delonte West has picked up his game and Ryan Gomes has emerged as a legitimate NBA rebounder at the four spot. Meanwhile, Doc Rivers was setting odds on Al Jefferson being in the lineup tonight at "50-50", and Jefferson himself said that it all depended on how he felt this morning after a good practice in Watham Tuesday.

It should be a wild night in the Jungle as the Celtics return home to a big game against the Heat, looking for a three game winning streak.

POINT GUARD
Delonte West Points: 11.7 Rebounds: 4.3 Assists: 4.5	Jason Williams Points: 12.8 Rebounds: 2.4 Assists: 5.0
Jason Williams isn't quite as reckless as he used to be in his early years in the league, but he can still break you down off the dribble, especially in the open court. And he still likes to stop and pop the threeball as well. But that said, with all of the scoring options the Heat put on the floor, he doesn't have work to hard to create offense.

SHOOTING GUARD
Wally Szczerbiak Points: 19.2 Rebounds: 4.5 Assists: 2.9	Dwyane Wade Points: 27.4 Rebounds: 5.9 Assists: 6.8
The Heat's main threat, Wade has a one-track mind: go to the basket. And once he gets there he'll either head for the rim himself or dish it off to Shaq. Either way, he's imposing when he heads for the hole. He notched 34 points against the C's back on February 6. Szczerbiak will have his hands full trying to stop Wade, but he'll get plenty of help from his teammates; covering Wade is a five-man job. As for Wally, he's really helped the Celtics space the floor with his long distance sharp-shooting and Pierce says that he plays his best ball when Szczerbiak is on the floor.

SMALL FORWARD
Paul Pierce Points: 26.8 Rebounds: 7.0 Assists: 4.6	James Posey Points: 7.7 Rebounds: 5.0 Assists: 1.4
Posey is the Heat's best three point shooter at just under 42%. He's also a strong, physical presence on the floor who will stick his nose in on the rebounding action. He knows how to man-up on defense and Pierce will have a tough time getting open against him. Pierce, meanwhile, has made a point of being more aggressive, and led the NBA in scoring in February, but he can't shoulder the entire load himself. Pierce dropped 31 against the Heat in Miami on February 6.

POWER FORWARD
Ryan Gomes Points: 4.0 Rebounds: 3.2 Assists: 0.3	Udonis Haslem Points: 9.1 Rebounds: 7.6 Assists: 1.2
Haslem is an effort guy who never gives up on a play and battles on the boards at both ends of the floor. He gets his scoring mostly on second-effort plays and by coming up with loose balls. Sounds a lot like Ryan Gomes, doesn't he? Pierce was actually comparing Gomes to Haslem at practice the other day, so we think it's a fair match-up. Gomes has been the big story of the last few weeks, as he has started the last seven games and is averaging 12.6 points and 9.3 rebounds in that time, while also shooting an impressive 60% from the field.

CENTER
Raef LaFrentz Points: 7.9 Rebounds: 4.7 Assists: 1.1	Shaquille O'Neal Points: 19.8 Rebounds: 9.2 Assists: 1.6
The Shaq match-up is tough enough when you have a guy like Kendrick Perkins in the lineup, but with Perk's return being pushed back at least a week and probably longer, it will be up to Raef LaFrentz to try to contain O'Neal. His best strategy might be just to hold his ground and look to pick up offensive fouls. Michael Olowokandi, Brian Scalabrine and maybe even Dwayne Jones will likely get a chance to play Hack-a-Shaq, and if Jefferson (ankle) is activated then he'll be thrown into the fire as well.

BENCH
Brian Scalabrine Points: 2.8 Rebounds: 1.4 Assists: 0.5	Antoine Walker Points: 12.1 Rebounds: 5.4 Assists: 2.2
'Toine's minutes are down this year (about 26 MPG), and he's been coming off the bench for the Heat, but he is still hoisting threes first and asking questions later, so he hasn't really changed much since he was back in Boston last season. That said, he's become a very solid sixth man for the Heat. Meanwhile, with the Perkins/Jefferson injury situation, the Celtics will have to look to the end of their roster for help guarding Shaq, and one of the guys who'll likely get the call is Brian Scalabrine, who's by far Boston's most physical big man with Perk on the shelf.