Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler is expected to play Friday against the Boston Celtics after missing seven games with a knee injury.
Here's his message to fans:
Here's the preview for Friday:
Game time: 7:30 p.m., ET
Where: TD Garden
TV: Bally Sports Sun
Betting line: N/A
VITALS: The Heat and Celtics meet for the third of four matchups this regular season and for the second consecutive time after they just faced each other on Wednesday. Last season, the Celtics won the series, 2-1, after Miami won it the previous year. The Heat are 51-80 all-time versus Boston during the regular season, including 29-38 in home games and 22-42 in road games. For the Heat, Jimmy Butler (ankle), Nikola Jovic (foot) and Dewayne Dedmon (foot) are questionable and Victor Oladipo (knee) and Omar Yurtseven (ankle) are out. For the Celtics, Robert Williams (knee) and Danillo Gallinari (knee) are out.
PROJECTED STARTERS
HEAT
G Tyler Herro
G Kyle Lowry
C Bam Adebayo
F Caleb Martin
F Max Strus
CELTICS
F Jaylen Brown
F Jayson Tatum
C Al Horford
G Marcus Smart
G Derrick White
QUOTABLE
Heat guard Tyler Herro on defending Jayson Tatum after he scored 49 points Wednesday: "I think we need to try to make him a little bit more uncomfortable, get into him a little bit more. "It's never easy when we're playing the best team in the league. We just got to continue to get better and make adjustments for Friday."
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