Miami Heat vs Boston Celtics betting tips and predictions for Tuesday’s NBA game on TNT. A pair of Eastern Conference heavyweights go at it for the 4th and final time this season as the Heat host the Celtics. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Miami Heat
Miami’s last 5 games have been hit or miss as they exchanged wins and losses during that stretch on a nightly basis. They’re coming off a 100-96 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, backed by Tyler Herro who dropped 26 points and added 8 boards as well. Kyle Lowry finally returned to the line-up, he had an efficient 17 points on just 9 shots taken.
Miami trails the regular season series against Boston 2-1, but they did win the previous meeting after overtime and as a result they enter tonight’s game as 1-point favorites. This team is 6-1 SU in their last 7 home games, they’ve struggled to cover the spread vs Boston though, failing to do so 5 times in the last 6 meetings at FTX Arena. Other than Duncan Robinson, the Heat are pretty much set which is a rare occasion these days.
Boston Celtics
There is something really flawed within this Boston Celtics team, especially in games against the Orlando Magic. Last night they lost for the 3rd time in 4 meetings against Orlando, despite entering the game as 7.5 point favorites. The Cs knocked down 18 threes in the game as well, but it wasn’t enough as they finished with just 98 points. They’ll try to do better against Miami, but it won’t be easy as they are known for being a defensive oriented team.
Three standard pieces of the rotation are questionable for tonight’s game – Marcus Smart, Robert Williams and Malcolm Brogdon are all dealing with injuries. Boston does have 6 wins in 7 road games, but if those 3 are unable to go there could be some issues against Miami tonight.
This will be a 2nd night of a back-to-back for Boston, while Miami had an extra day of rest in between their games and they also didn’t have to travel. That should give them the advantage in tonight’s match-up, so let’s go with the home team here.
Miami Heat vs Boston Celtics Predictions & Odds
The scoring has been surprisingly up over the last 2 meetings between these teams with 255 and 236 points combined between the two teams. I’m looking for that to change as both teams have been trending in the direction of lower scoring games lately. Boston is 5-1 in favor of the under in their last 6 games, while Miami has seen the under cash in 8 of their last 11 games overall.
Miami’s games vs teams from their own conference have gone under 7 times in the last 8 such games, plus they are also just 12-12 on the O/U in home games this season. Both teams also rank in the top 10 in defensive efficiency, Miami is allowing 108.7 points per 100 possessions, while the Celtics are just a notch below them at 109.3 points. This game will be decided on the defensive end, so let’s go with the under.
