NBA Playoff Schedule 2020: TV Guide, Odds and Predictions for Saturday

The Boston Celtics have built double-digit second-half leads in both of their first two Eastern Conference Finals matchups with the Miami Heat.

The Shamrocks are 0-2 in those contests. Frustration has predictably boiled over, to the point head coach Brad Stevens had to summon his team's leaders for a late-night talk Thursday following "significant yelling and outbursts" in the locker room after their Game 2 loss, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Juxtaposed against that frustration, though, is the optimism surrounding the potential return of Gordon Hayward for Game 3. The former All-Star hasn't suited up since spraining his ankle in the team's playoff opener against the Philadelphia 76ers, but the Celtics are "hopeful" he can contribute in Saturday's Game 3, Wojnarowski reported.

Boston is effectively entering do-or-die territory, as a third straight loss seemingly creates an insurmountable deficit. No NBA team has ever climbed out of an 0-3 series hole.

Can the Celtics recover in time to make this a series? Or are the Heat about to put a stranglehold on this matchup? We'll get to all the particulars—including the latest line from FanDuel—plus make our Game 3 prediction below.

Eastern Conference Finals Game 3 Schedule, Odds

Series: Heat lead 2-0

Time: 8:30 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: ESPN

Latest Odds: Celtics -2.5 | O/U 206

Game 3 Prediction

Most teams stuck in 0-2 holes probably feel they should be up 2-0. If the Celtics feel that way, though, it isn't simply a sign of their self-esteem.

While they obviously didn't want to blow those leads, the fact that they have built them twice has some significance.

They're the better team on paper.

They had more wins (48 to 44) and fewer losses (24 to 29). Their net rating was substantially superior (plus-6.3 to plus-2.7). They won both the teams' meetings before the relocation to the bubble, and while they lost their only matchup of the seeding round, they didn't even get 16 minutes out of Marcus Smart before he fouled out, and they got uncharacteristically rough shooting nights from Hayward (5-of-13) and Jaylen Brown (9-of-23).

Now, it's in the eye of the beholder to weigh up how much any of that matters. Miami has been a different team since arriving in Orlando, Florida (10-1 in the playoffs with a plus-6.8 net rating). And its confidence is sky-high.

"I think we're supposed to be here," Jimmy Butler said, per ESPN's Nick Friedell. "That's how we think of it. To me, to us, that's all that matters. We're not underdogs. We're competitors."

Butler and Bam Adebayo are the rare All-Stars who arguably do their best work at the defensive end. The fact that they are fine with someone else carrying the scoring load has the trickle-down effect of everyone on the roster understanding his role and typically executing it at a high level.

Head coach Erik Spoelstra has a habit of consistently pulling the right strings. Whether it's knowing when to break out a zone defense or having the confidence to draw up a play for an undrafted player (Duncan Robinson) or a rookie picked outside the top 10 (Tyler Herro), Spoelstra positions his players to be successful.

All of that matters inside the lines. Whether it will continue to matter against a team with arguably more talent is what will shape Game 3 and, ultimately, this series.

The Celtics need to find their finishing touch. Building an early lead (or a second-half one) is meaningless if they can't see it through. They can't commit bad turnovers (they had 20 giveaways in Game 2) or lose the effort battles (the Heat have more deflections and more loose-ball recoveries).

They need Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker to get their three-point percentages north of 30. They might want to find more shots for Brown (14 per game). They could really use injections of shooting and playmaking from Hayward.

The puzzle pieces are in place for the Celtics to get back into this series—it's just on Stevens to properly assemble them.

Maybe it's not smart to bet against the bubble Heat, but Boston's team meeting and Hayward's potential return could be difference-makers Saturday night.

Prediction: Celtics 115, Heat 108