Back in the Eastern Conference Finals for the fifth time since 2017, the Boston Celtics will face a very familiar foe in the Miami Heat, who they defeated in the conference finals a season ago. Playing around with his rotations lately, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla recently made the move to have center Robert Williams III start over guard Derrick White and it appears as if this will be the case heading in to Game 1 against Miami on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Mazzulla told reporters that Williams will in fact start at center for the Celtics when they host the Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, per Bobby Manning.

Williams started Game 6 and Game 7 of Boston's previous series against the Philadelphia 76ers when they were on the brink of elimination. The Celtics won both of these games and got a big boost from Williams with him averaging 8.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game.

When he is in the starting rotation, Williams make a massive difference for his team simply because he is one of the best rim-protectors in the entire league. Having the ability to contest any shot near the rim, the Celtics' big man was a key reason why Boston advanced to the NBA Finals a season ago.

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Dealing with knee issues going back to last offseason, Williams has only played in 48 games this year including the playoffs. His availability has been spotty this year, which is why White was a starter for most of the regular season and heading into the postseason. When he is healthy though, Williams is an X-factor for the Celtics in the paint on both ends of the floor.

Given the success he had in the team's final two games against the Sixers though and since Bam Adebayo controls the paint for the Heat, Mazzulla is going with the obvious choice of starting Williams since he is healthy.

A rematch of the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics and Heat will meet in the conference finals for the third time in the last four seasons and for the fourth time overall. Miami is 2-1 against Boston in these series and every one of these series had a Game 6.