List of Refs for Heat vs Celtics Game 5 Tonight (Expect a High-Scoring Game Inside TD Garden)

Thursday's NBA Playoffs slate features Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics. In such a crucial contest, fans from both sides are hoping for a fairly officiated game tonight.

Here's everything you need to know about the refs for Game 5 of Heat-Celtics.

Heat vs Celtics Game 5 Referees

The three officials assigned to work Thursday's matchup between the Heat and Celtics are Marc Davis (#8, crew chief), David Guthrie (#16, referee) and Bill Kennedy (#55, umpire). Brian Forte (#45) will be the emergency alternate in case a last-minute replacement is needed.

Courtney Kirkland, meanwhile, will be in the Secaucus-based Replay Center for tonight's playoff game.

Looking at Davis' postseason track record, he doesn't tend to favor one team over the other. The home team is 5-7 in his 12 games as a crew chief and his foul calls are almost exactly 50/50. The average point total for those games is 225.9, which is notably higher than the projected total of 215 points for tonight's game on FanDuel Sportsbook's NBA odds.

Here's a breakdown of the betting stats from games Davis has officiated this season:

Guthrie and Kennedy bring some postseason experience to the table as well with each man having reffed at least 10 games in the 20223-23 playoffs. The home team has emerged victorious in 13 of their combined 21 contests, while Kennedy's 10 games alone have seen an average of 219.8 points.

Accordingly, we could see a high-scoring victory by the Celtics based on tonight's officiating crew.

Larry Rupp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Larry Rupp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username phillyfan424. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel. 

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