NBA Basketball
2011-12-28 - Miami Heat at Charlotte Bobcats
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States: NBA Basketball
Wednesday 28 December 2011 - Tip Off 7pm ET
Midnight (British Standard Time)
Preview
The Miami Heat (2-0) have made a fast start to the season by knocking off two of the better teams in the NBA, the Dallas Mavericks and the Boston Celtics, and now enter a slightly cosier part of their schedule as they face the Charlotte Bobcats (1-0) twice and the Minnesota Timberwolves in their next 3 games.
Miami have looked a lot more comfortable in the system at the start of this season than they did last year soon after bringing together Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh. That was to be expected this year after they improved markedly to make it to the NBA Finals, and it is no surprise to see they are the favourites to win the title this year.
Charlotte were expected to have a rough season as injuries are hurting their depth, while there has been a lot of rebuilding that has to be done to a team that has lost Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson in the last year.
They played well to fight back and beat the Milwaukee Bucks in their opening game, but the Bobcats appreciate how much of a more difficult test this one will be. They came back from a 14 point deficit in the second half to beat the Bucks, but that is a tough ask against a team as good as Miami.
Head to Head
Miami won all 4 meetings against Charlotte last season, although they split the series 2-2 against the spread.
The Heat won both games in Charlotte by double-digits last season.
The road team is 4-0-1 against the spread in the last 5 games in the series.
Charlotte are 1-0 against the spread this season, Miami are 1-1.
Other Interesting Trends
Charlotte are 1-5 against the spread in their last 6 games as the home underdog of between 5 and 10.5 points.
They are 4-1 against the spread in their last 5 games against Eastern Conference teams.
Miami are 20-7 against the spread in their last 27 games as the road favourite of between 5 and 10.5 points.
Prediction
I am going to back the Miami Heat to cover the spread for the following reasons:
First, Miami have had a fantastic start to the season and they have been holding big leads against teams that are a lot better than Charlotte.
Second, Charlotte struggled to keep up with the Heat last season and are a weaker team now so this could be incredibly tough for them.
Third, the Bobcats were down big against Milwaukee in their opener, and that kind of start will see them in a big hole that they will not be able to dig out of.
The Pick :
Charlotte Bobcats 91-104 Miami Heat
