Basketball Playoff Action – Miami Heat Desperate for Victory

As 4 ½ point underdogs in Game 1 of their best of seven series versus the Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat looked to be in control of the entire game until the 4th quarter where the Men in Green outscored the Heat 21 to 10 to beat Miami by 9 points, 85 to 76. Then, in Game 2, with Kevin Garnett on the bench because of a suspension, the Heat, as 1-point underdogs this time, were obliterated by the short-handed Celtics 106 to 77.

Game 2 can’t even be described as a missed opportunity as the Heat scored only 10 points in the 2nd quarter and were outscored by 26 points, 62 to 36, in the 2nd and 3rd quarters combined. Miami goes into Game 3 of this series as the basketball bet favorite in the sportsbook.

Boston Celtics +4 -110 +155 O 182 -110

Miami Heat -4 -110 -175 U 182 -110

The strongest NBA Betting Trends favor the Celtics in this game.

The Boston Celtics are 8-2-1 ATS in their last 11 playoff games as an underdog.

The Boston Celtics are 4 and 0 ATS in their last 4 Conference Quarterfinals games.

The Miami Heat are 1 and 5 ATS in their last 6 Conference Quarterfinals games.

The Miami Heat are 4-0-1 ATS in their last 5 games after allowing 100 points or more in their previous game.

Sometimes a key game occurs in a playoff series that pretty much nails the series victory down for one team. I believe that the key game in this series was Game 2 when the Heat absolutely blew it against a Kevin Garnett-less Celtics’ team.

Miami just doesn’t have it. That’s apparent after watching them play like a bunch of 8th graders on a cement court in Game 2. The Heat shot 38.2% from the field. Dwayne Wade had 29 of the Heat’s 77 points. I questioned who would step up in place of Wade during the playoffs and thought that Wade enough could get them past the Celtics.

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Boy, was I wrong. Miami is just a bad team through and through after Dwayne Wade. Nobody else on their team has any heart whatsoever and I would be surprised if they beat the Celtics in Game 3 much less cover a 4-point spread.
The Celtics have beaten Miami 5 straight times. Why would anybody believe that the Heat would somehow break that streak just because they are at home for Game 3?

Garnett supposedly will be back for this game. Even if he isn’t, I’m not worried about it. The Celtics have the Heat’s number and will beat them again in this game. In my mind, the Boston Celtics are simply better than the heart-less Miami Heat who actually believe that they can ride Dwayne Wade’s coattails to victory.

The series ended after Game 2 when Boston, without Garnett, out rebounded the Heat 50 to 33, out shot the Heat 48% to 38.2% and got to the free throw line 27 times as opposed to Miami getting to the line 16 times.

The Heat is shell-shocked. They’re not coming back from that Game 2 destruction. I love the odds on the Celtics on the NBA money line.

That’s the bet that I’m making.

NBA Free Picks: Boston Celtics +155 on the money line