Miami Heat vs Philadelphia 76ers betting tips and predictions for Tuesday’s NBA Eastern Conference Playoff game on TNT. It’s a pivotal Game 5 between the Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers as the two teams head into tonight’s game tied at 2-2 in their best-of-7 series. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Miami Heat
After impressing everyone through the first 2 games, the Miami Heat didn’t do any of that over the next 2 in Philadelphia as they fell by 20 and 8 points. Now the pressure is on them to respond at home, losing their 3rd straight game would be a disaster as we are headed to Philly for Game 6.
In order for that to happen, the Heat will have to get way more players involved on the offensive end as we’ve seen them score just 79 points in Game 3. Players like Duncan Robinson are buried deep on the bench, despite having the potential to really help this team.
Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo have been carrying the majority of the load on offence, the fact that Kyle Lowry has a lingering injury also doesn’t help. Miami’s optimism will lie in the fact that they are currently on an 8-game home win streak. They’ve also beaten Philadelphia in 7 of the last 8 meetings in South Beach.
Philadelphia 76ers
In the 2 games since coming back from injury, Joel Embiid has put up 18 and 24 points. Although that might not sound all that much, his presence alone out there has made the 76ers a lot better and players like Danny Green, George Niang and others are stepping up.
James Harden had probably his best game as a 76ers in Game 4 as he scored 31 points and dished out 9 assists. All 5 Sixers starters scored in double-figures and if they approach tonight’s game the same way they did Game 4 a lot of good things will happen for them.
Philadelphia has already won once during the regular season in Miami, so they are no strangers to the environment they’ll be facing tonight. One thing they cannot allow to happen again is Jimmy Butler scoring 40 on them, so expect Tobias Harris to put in the extra work to slow him down tonight.
Despite the Sixers winning the last 2 games I don’t see a lot of people fancying their chances in Game 5 which is a mystery to me. I think they have all the momentum on their side and Miami is struggling big time in slowing down Embiid. I’m going for the upset here, give me the road squad and the extra points.
Philadelphia 76ers vs Miami Heat Predictions & Odds
With the series switching to Miami you’d think the defences will tighten up even further as we have a big time game on our hands tonight. The Heat have leaned towards the under quite a lot since the playoffs have started. Their last 7 of 9 games have all cashed on that bet and that’s also been the case with their last 8 of 11 vs Eastern Conference team. Philadelphia is also going under the total on a regular basis with 6 of their last 9 games cashing.
Embiid coming back has really clogged up the paint and although Bam Adebayo had 23 points in Game 4, none of them came easy which is really encouraging for all of us backing the under here. With the three-ball not working for them, the Heat are having to work for every basket a lot more than they usually do and that is Philadelphia’s chance tonight. If they are able to limit the production of Jimmy Butler and not allow shooters like Tyler Herro to get hot, an upset could be on the cards here. I’m going for the under in this one.
