Miami Heat vs Cleveland Cavaliers betting tips and predictions for Friday’s NBA game. With the Cavaliers leading the regular season series 2-0, they will clash with the Miami Heat for the 3rd and final time as the two teams lock horns tonight at FTX Arena. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
- Start date: 11.03.2022 at 8:00 PM
- Location: FTX Arena, Miami
Miami Heat
Miami’s 3 game win streak came to an end as they fell at home 111-90 against the number one ranked team in the Western Conference, the Phoenix Suns. Jimmy Butler didn’t play in that game due to an illness, he has been upgraded to questionable ahead of tonight’s game and could return.
Caleb Martin is also questionable with a knee issue, but with the way Miami has played against Cleveland at home in recent years they might not need either of those 2 players. The Heat are 19-1 SU in the last 20 meetings in South Beach, they’ve also covered the spread in 5 straight vs Eastern Conference teams and are 16-4 SU in their last 20 played at home.
They are also enjoying a 2 game lead atop of the Eastern Conference ahead of Milwaukee, but with the Bucks winning 6 games in a row the pressure is on the Heat to respond tonight.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Following a run of 6 losses in 7 games, the Cavaliers have been able to steady the ship with 2 wins in a row over Toronto and at Indiana. The win at Indiana was particularly impressive as Darius Garland went for 41 points and 13 assists, while also hitting a pair of clutch free throws to ice the game late.
What is concerning for Cavaliers fans though is the fact that they allowed Indiana to shoot almost 54% from the field and 50% from downtown which is very uncharacteristic for a defensive side like the Cavs are.
No Jarrett Allen certainly played a factor there, the all-star centre has been ruled out for tonight’s game as well with a finger injury. Caris LeVert also misses the game as he is out indefinitely with a foot problem. Cleveland has covered just 4 times in their last 15 games vs Miami, their fans aren’t very optimistic ahead of tonight’s game.
With the injury to Allen the Cavs are severely handicapped in the middle of the paint. A team equipped with Bam Adebayo like the Heat should know how to take advantage of this. I’m going with the home team here, after all they are 23-8 SU at home this season.
Miami Heat vs Cleveland Cavaliers Predictions & Odds
These 2 teams rank 4th and 5th in defensive efficiency and the oddsmakers are aware of this so that’s why they’ve set the projected total at 208.5 total points here. Both meetings so far this season finished under that number, but I have a feeling tonight’s game could go in a different direction.
The primary reason for that is the absence of Allen for Cleveland, the Cavs defence has allowed 124, 125, 119 and 127 points in 4 of their last 5 games, so clearly something is not right with them on that end of the court.
Miami’s defence has been tight, but they too have allowed 120 against the Bucks 9 days ago and are coming off a game in which Phoenix dropped 111 on them despite not having Chris Paul available. The total has gone over in 7 of the last 10 meetings between these teams with an average of 219.1 points per game being scored during that stretch.
Cleveland has gone 17-16-1 on the O/U this season in road games, that’s quite the increase from their home stats which is an indicator they like to play a lot faster away from home. Combine that with Miami going over in 39 of 67 games this season, I think we have ourselves a high scoring game here. Back the over.
