Miami Heat vs Atlanta Hawks betting tips and predictions for Tuesday’s NBA Eastern Conference Playoff game on TNT. After a dominant Game 1 wins the Miami Heat look to go up 2-0 against Atlanta as the two teams square off once again at FTX Arena. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat had a close to perfect game in the series opener on Sunday as they demolished the Hawks by 24 points. Defensively they put on the clamps on the Hawks very early on and they could never recover scoring just 40 points in the first 2 quarters of play.
In the end, Atlanta finished shooting the ball just 38% from the field and a pedestrian 27% from three-point land. Just one Miami Heat starter played more than 30 minutes in that game and that was Jimmy Butler who led the way with 21 points and 6 rebounds.
The game was pretty much over mid-way through the 3rd period, so the Heat had 3 reserves play 20 or more minutes as result. They now have 4 wins in 5 meetings with the Hawks, including the regular season, and I am really liking their chances to win Game 2 as well.
Atlanta Hawks
Trae Young in particular really struggled for the Hawks in Game 1 scoring just 8 points on 1-for-12 shooting from the field and failing to make a single three-point basket on 7 attempts. It wasn’t only him though, sharpshooter Bogdan Bogdanovic also had a rough game scoring just 6 points without making a single basket from the field on 8 attempts.
Those 2 will surely bounce back tonight, but the Hawks will need a lot more in order to steal one on the road here. They will once again be without Clint Capela, which leaves their middle exposed heavily here.
It’s hard to expect a team that went just 17-26 SU on the road this season to win one in Miami where they are just 1-7 SU in their last 8 visits. Certain bettors might back the Hawks to cover here though, they’ve gone 9-3 ATS in their last 12 games overall.
I still think it’s Miami’s game to lose in Game 2, they are a much better team overall than the Hawks. If they find a way to neutralize Trae Young yet again it should be a wrap. Miami has covered in 7 of 8 games, after a 24 point win in Game 1, winning by 8 points sounds very reasonable in Game 2 as well. Back the home team to cover.
Miami Heat vs Atlanta Hawks Predictions & Odds
Despite the Hawks putting up just 91 points, the projected total has been set at a relatively high 219 points here. The 3 most recent meetings have averaged 215.3 points per game, with Atlanta barely averaging over 100 points. Their last 7 of 8 games have all finished under the total, including 4 of their last 5 on the road.
For the season they are 20-23 on the O/U in games away from State Farm Arena, if they don’t improve rapidly on the offensive end they’ll have a hard time getting buckets in tonight’s game as well. Miami relies on defence to win games, they are the 4th best defensive team in the NBA as far as points allowed per game. Slowing down games is key if you want to hold your opponents to a reasonable margin, the Heat rank just 28th in pace this season.
Looking at head-to-head meetings, the under has cashed 24 times in the last 32 games, so I think there’s a really solid chance of that happening in tonight’s game as well. In Atlanta’s last 9 games as underdogs, the under has cashed in all 9 of them. Let’s back that in tonight’s game as well.
