Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat betting tips and predictions for Thursday’s NBA Playoffs game on TNT. The Celtics look to pull another game back following Tuesday’s Game 4 victory as they host the Miami Heat in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference Finals series. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Boston Celtics
The Celtics didn’t lose 4 games in a row all season long and on Tuesday they made sure that didn’t happen, with their season hanging by a thread. Jayson Tatum finally delivered a solid performance with 33 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists as all 5 starters scored in double figures. The Cs were finally efficient from the field at 51% and also nailed 18 threes on 45 attempts. But, that was only one game.
This team is still in an elimination scenario heading back home for Game 5, the question is can they once again extend the series? The TD Garden fans will be ecstatic to see their team after they lost both Games 1 and 2 to open the series, not a lot of them thought Boston would play another home game this season after the Game 3 humiliation.
Miami Heat
Miami’s three-point shooting finally cooled off a bit on Tuesday as they connected on just 4 threes out of 32 attempts. Jimmy Butler was the high point man with 29 and 9 rebounds, followed by Gabe Vincent who had 17 and Caleb Martin who chipped in 16. Bam Adebayo played a sub-par game with only 10 points and 5 rebounds, he will have to do much better if the Heat are to close this series on the road.
For the first time in the series Miami was the favorite on Game 4, but after losing that one they’re now back to being underdogs as the oddsmakers have Boston favored by 7.5 points here. Judging by how the series has gone so far, that could be a bit too much as Miami is 5-1 SU/ATS in the last 6 meetings. This team is on a run of 10-3 ATS in their last 13 games and just need 1 win to clinch another NBA Finals berth.
No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, but if the Celtics win Game 5 they’ll only be 2 wins away from history. That kind of motivation could perhaps kickstart something here, so I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and back them to cover in Game 5 on Thursday.
Boston Celtics vs Miami Heat Predictions & Odds
For the first time in 4 games in this series we had the under finally land as 215 points were scored. The only reason why that happened was Miami’s poor shooting from three, the pace hasn’t slowed down at all compared to the first 3 games. For Game 5 the projected total has stayed the same at 215.5 points, a number that was cleared in both games at TD Garden played earlier in the series.
The Heat have gone over the total in 11 of 15 games overall and in 10 of their last 11 on the road. When playing at TD Garden their last 5 games in a row have all cashed on the over vs the Celtics. Boston hasn’t shied away from putting up buckets as well, their last 5 of 7 home games have al cashed on the over, while their last 11 of 15 overall have also landed on that bet. I’ll be sticking with the over for Thursday’s game, so let’s back the points.
