Atlanta Hawks vs Miami Heat betting tips and predictions for Monday’s NBA game on TNT. MLK Day brings us the 2nd meeting of the season between the Hawks and Heat as both teams look to build on their winning streaks. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta is slowly getting out of their poor start to 2023 with consecutive wins over Indiana and Toronto. The loss against Milwaukee is the only blemish over their past 4 games, they’re hoping to improve their standings with a win against division rivals Miami tonight. Clint Capela remains out of the line-up, that will make their life so much more difficult here as they won’t have anyone to match-up with Bam Adebayo.
Bam had 32 points in the 1st meeting of the season, the Hawks were without Capela back then as well. What Atlanta does have going for them here though is home court advantage, plus a healthy Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. A lot is expected out of Young here, he struggled against Miami this season shooting just 25% from the field and 12% from three.
Miami Heat
With 7 wins in 9 games on the road, the Heat are in midst of one of their better stretches of the season. The schedule has been working in their favor lately, they beat the Bucks twice without Giannis, played the Nets and Suns who are both in serious injury problems at the moment. Tonight’s game will be a huge test for Eric Spoelstra’s team, but they’ll be encouraged by the return of Tyler Herro who has been out of the line-up for the past few games.
Him coming back adds another three-point sharpshooter they can count on, especially in the clutch. After holding 4 of their last 5 opponents to just 95, 102, 102 and 96 points, the Heat will once again rely heavily on their defense to get the win here. Atlanta managed just 98 points in the 1st meeting back in late November.
With a 6-1 SU record in the last 7 meetings, plus covering the spread 5 times during that stretch, it’s really hard to overlook the Heat here. I can’t remember a time when they have been doing this well on the injury front, I have them beating the Hawks with ease in this one.
Atlanta Hawks vs Miami Heat Predictions & Odds
Trae Young’s shooting woes against Miami have been well documented. With a healthy Jimmy Butler chasing him around tonight it could be yet another long night for Trae. Miami has the best interior defense in the NBA allowing only 44.1 points per game, over their last 3 games that’s down to an incredible 34.7 points which means if Atlanta’s three-ball doesn’t start falling down early they could be in trouble here.
Only 1 meeting over the past 3 seasons between these teams has seen more than 222.5 points which is tonight’s projected total. Miami plays the 3rd slowest pace in the NBA averaging just 98.3 possessions per game, combine that with their ruthless approach to the defensive end I don’t think the two teams will score enough to push us over the total. 8 of the last 10 meetings have gone under the total, I say we back that once again tonight.
