NBA Basketball
2026-03-06 - Miami Heat at Charlotte Hornets
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : NBA Basketball
Friday 6th March 2026 - Scheduled 7pm
12am (British Time)
Preview
These two teams may both be occupying Play In Tournament positions in the Eastern Conference, but there is no doubt that they are looking up at the top six on current form, rather than being concerned about being chased down and dropping out of the top ten.
The Miami Heat (34-29) have won three in a row, including a blowout on Thursday evening, and they are in the Number 8 place in the standings. They have a 1.5 game gap to make up to the Toronto Raptors in the Number 5 Seed and an automatic spot in the First Round of the Playoffs and Miami will certainly be thinking about moving into those spots.
They visit an even hotter opponent than themselves in the Charlotte Hornets (32-31) who have moved above 0.500 thanks to a six game winning run. That means the Hornets are one place behind the Miami Heat and 3.5 games behind the Toronto Raptors and so these relatively late regular season games between rivals jockeying for position look to be that much more important.
Both are playing with confidence and the Heat and Hornets will be confident- Miami are on a back to back, which means having to make more decisions about minutes they are going to be allocating to important players, but this is a team that have been managing the schedule effectively.
An experienced team will take being set as an underdog as a slight on their abilities and Miami have long been a team that have overachieved in that spot.
A back to back is a tough situation to deal with, but the Heat will believe they have the Defensive intensity to slow down a hot shooting Charlotte team. That is going to be the key to the outcome of the game with the Hornets handing out a heavy dose of three point shooting that has seen them not only win games, but win games really well.
However, it is the way the Hornets have picked up the Defensive intensity which has really caught the eye and Charlotte are motoring in a very strong direction.
They have not always had the best success against the Miami Heat, but these teams have not met since November and Charlotte look a different kettle of fish right now.
Opposing the Miami Heat on the spread has not been very fruitful this season with the team putting together a 37-25-1 record against the spread. The Heat are also 4-1 against the spread in the last five games when they have been set as the underdog, but Charlotte have been overwhelming opponents in the last six weeks and that may be the key to the outcome of this one against a potentially tiring visiting team.
Prediction
This is going to be a competitive game, but the scheduling favours the Charlotte Hornets and they may do just enough to cover.
The Pick :
Charlotte Hornets 108-99 Miam Heat
