NBA Betting Lines – Heat Look To Eliminate Celtics In Five

The Miami Heat will try to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2006 when they host the desperate Boston Celtics tonight at 7:00 PM ET at the American Airlines Arena.

NBA Betting Lines:
Boston Celtics +7.5
Miami Heat -7.5
O/U 180.5

Miami robbed a victory from Boston in game 4 pushing the Celtics in to the brink of elimination.  Before game 4, all games, including the regular season, were won by the home team covering the spread as well; curiously enough game four was also covered by the road favorite Miami Heat as the Celtics were 1.5 home underdogs.

Lebron James led his team with 35 points in the 98-90 overtime victory on Monday and he was backed up by Dwayne Wade who dropped 28 and Chris Bosh who had 20 points.  Boston’s big three didn’t have the same type of impact with only Paul Pierce going over 20 points while Kevin Garnett looked old and slow while getting manhandled by Bosh in the paint.

Throughout the season the Heat have been favorites from 6.5 to 9 points 15 times and only covering that point spread once, not to mention they are 18-27 ATS in home games this year.

Boston on the other hand is 1-5 ATS in road games where the total is between 180 and 184.5 points and 13-15 ATS after a loss and 20-25 ATS in road games.

Keep in mind that 12 of 20 games between these 2 teams have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons.

The Celtics have Rajon Rondo listed as probable due to his elbow injury.  Rondo had 10 points in game four but only five assists and he was nowhere near the dominant player we are used to seeing on the floor, expect him to be a non-factor again tonight.

Simmons’ NBA Betting pick: Take the Heat to cover.