Do LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have something up their sleeves for Game 4, or will the Celtics show up again and even up the series at 2-2? Find out what the NBA odds makers have to say about tonight's prime time event.
The line for tonight's game has been out for a while now and
there's been a whole bunch of movement across the NBA odds boards.
After opening as two-point underdogs, the spread has shifted
and now the Heat are favored by a point for Game 4 at TD Garden.
The total has also moved, opening at 181.5 and moving down
to as low as 179.5 The OVER has hit in two of the three matchups so far in the
series.
We were right on with our Game 3 pick, as the Celtics took
care of business in a comfortable 101-91 victory. Only some garbage-time points
in the fourth quarter helped the Heat avoid a much more embarrassing final
scoreline. Boston was up by as many as 24 points in the win.
Celtics stand firm
The recipe for success was quite simple: get Kevin Garnett
the ball in the post and let him go to work. KG had 24 points and 11 rebounds
in close to 34 minutes of action and the Celtics were +27 when he was on the
court.
Paul Pierce added 23 points and Rajon Rondo followed up that
crazy Game 2 performance with 21 points, 10 assists and six rebounds. In all,
Boston shot 50.0 percent from the floor, out-rebounded Miami 44-32 and
outscored their opponents 58-46 in the paint.
The Heat were led by LeBron and his 34 points, eight boards
and five assists but the supporting cast failed to help out all that much.
Dwyane Wade had only 18 points and Udonis Haslem and Shane Battier, who have
both been factors in this series at some point or another, combined for only
three.
Tonight we think there will be some legitimate backup for
LeBron, mainly from his main sidekick, and as a result we are siding with the
Heat with our NBA picks.
Wade needs to get involved from the beginning and LeBron has
already stated that he's going to try and make that happen. The former
Marquette star is getting doubled on top of the key and is struggling to assert
himself as aggressively as he'd like. In Game 3, he failed to get the free
throw line. That tells you all you need to know.
In the last series versus the Indiana Pacers, Wade was
called out after scoring just five points and getting into a verbal altercation
with Erik Spoelstra in the Game 3 loss. How did he respond? Only by racking up
30 points, nine boards and six dimes in the following game and then dropping 28
and 41 in Games 5 and 6 respectively.
Heat aiming for a knockout blow
We believe Wade will be attacking early and often in Game 4
as he tries to establish an offensive rhythm. Once he gets into the groove of
the game, the Heat become near impossible to defend.
That would definitely open things up for Miami offensively,
but there's a growing concern about the other side of the ball. Spoelstra's
team was extremely poor defensively in the Game 3 defeat and surely he'll make
some necessary adjustments to make life more difficult for the Celtics,
especially KG. The Heat really need to do
a better job in the paint, where they were completely outmuscled on Friday.
Adjustments have been key in both sets of conference
semi-finals. Will they make the difference in Game 4?
While the Celtics have done well to make this a much closer
series than people expected, we like Miami to cover tonight. LeBron has been
his same spectacular self throughout the series and we are looking for his
play, alongside a determined Wade, to be the difference.
FREE Pick: Miami Heat -1
TREND BREAKDOWN
Heat are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games as favorites
Celtics are 14-6-1 ATS in their last 21 home games
OVER is 5-1 in Miami's last 6 games overall
UNDER is 8-3 in Boston's last 11 games as home underdogs
Celtics are 6-1 ATS in the last 7 head-to-head meetings
Favorite is 9-4 ATS in the last 13 head-to-head meetings