D Wade vs. D Granger – Miami Heat at Indiana Pacers

NBA: Miami Heat vs. Indiana Pacers

Game-day: 3/25/2009

Tip-off: 7:05 pm est.

Neither the Miami Heat nor the Indiana Pacers are ranked in the NBA Power Rankings. Just because neither team is ranked, it doesn’t mean that gamblers shouldn’t look to this game to make a few bucks. After all, some of the best scores can be found when playing for or against bad teams.

The Miami Heat are just a middle of the road team. Their straight-up record of 38 and 32 is good enough to put them fifth in the East, but as long as they make it to the playoffs, then who knows what can happen. Just ask Atlanta, who took the eventual champions to seven games in the first round. From a betting standpoint, the Heat have an overall record against the spread of 33-35-2 and 16-17-1 on the road.

The Indiana Pacers could be considered a bad team. They have a straight-up record of 29 and 42, but they also have one of the most underrated players in the NBA betting in Danny Granger. Granger averages close to 25 points a game. The Pacers will need Granger to be on his game to challenge Dwayne Wade and the Heat in this. Indiana is 37-32-2 against the spread. At home the Pacers are 18-14-1 ATS.

Here is the BetOnline betting line for this game.

Miami Heat +1 ½ -110 Ev O 204 ½ -110

Indiana Pacers -1 ½ -110 -120 U 204 ½ -110

Here are a few online wagering trends for this game.

The Miami Heat is 3 and 7 ATS in their last 10 games following an ATS victory.

The Under is 4 and 1 in the Miami Heat’s last 5 games following an against the spread victory.

The Indiana Pacers are 1 and 6 against the spread in their last 7 games overall.

The Under is 9 and 0 in the Indiana Pacers last 9 games at home.

Indiana scored 108 points in their last game, a victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on the road, but failed to score 100 or more in 4 out of their previous 5 games.

In fact, the Pacers failed to score 90 or more in 3 out of those 5 games.

Miami has scored only 100 points or more in 2 out of their last 5 games.

The trends point towards the under but the last time these two teams met Miami put up 114 and Indiana put up 103. What’s different in this game? Mike Dunleavy had 30 points in that game, but he’s out for the season for Indiana.

That’s a huge difference. Where are the points coming for the Pacers? Jarret Jack had 31 against the Bobcats but should bettors expect Jack to put up another 30 in this game? I don’t think so.

204 is a huge number for these two teams. I see both teams slowing this game down and this game going under.

I’ll make a wager that this game goes under the BetOnline Total of 204.