Skip to main content

On Wednesday evening, the Miami Heat will be in Massachusetts to play the Boston Celtics for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.   

For the game, they will have their starting center in the lineup, as Bam Adebayo is listed as available on the injury report.  

Adebayo has had another fantastic season, and through the first 11 games of the 2023 NBA Playoffs has averages of 18.1 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 steals per contest while shooting 49.7% from the field.  

The Heat are the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, but they have one of the most talented rosters in the league.  

This is their third time in the Conference Finals in the previous four seasons (they made the NBA Finals in 2020).  

In the first round, the Heat beat the Milwaukee Bucks (who were the first seed) in just five games, and they defeated the New York Knicks in the second round (in six games). 

Adebayo and Jimmy Butler make up one of the best duos in the Eastern Conference. 

Last year, the Celtics beat the Heat in Game 7 of the Conference Finals (they lost to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals).  

This season, they finished as the second seed in the east and defeated the Atlanta Hawks (in six games) and Philadelphia 76ers (in seven games) in the first two rounds. 

The winner of the series will advance to the 2023 NBA Finals and face off against either the Los Angeles Lakers or the Denver Nuggets. 

More on the Miami Heat can be read here