Boston Celtics at Miami Heat Betting Odds


Opening Betting Lines: Celtics +4 / Heat -4 O/U 182

Time: 7 PM EST Friday April 23, 2010 on ESPN

The Celtics lead this best of 7 series 2-0.

Tonight in the Sunshine State in the 3rd game of an Eastern Conference opening round series the Miami Heat host the Boston Celtics. The Heat are down 0-2 in the series and tonight's game is vital, as no team in NBA history has come back to win a playoff series after being down 0-3.

The Heat really wasted an opportunity to steal a game in Boston with Kevin Garnett suspended, but Miami was killed by 29 points. With KG out Glen Davis really stepped up and scored 23 points and grabbed 8 boards and he played solid defense. The Heat shot only 38.2% from the floor in Game 2 and if they shoot like that again their chances of making it to the next round of the playoffs are likely shot.

This season the Heat are 24-17 at home and 42-39-1 ATS and the Celtics are 26-15 on the road and 32-48-2 ATS.

The Celtics laid a beat down on the Heat in Game 2 winning 106-77 on Tuesday night.

Dwayne Wade (29 points) got a little help from Michael Beasley (13 points) in Game 2, but the other 3 Heat starters only scored a grand total of 11 points on 4/23 shooting. Jermaine O'Neal only had 2 points on 1/10 shooting and he has to give the Heat some offense tonight.

O'Neal and the other frontcourt players have to do much better on the boards, as the Celtics out-rebounded the Heat by 17 boards in Game 2 and that was without KG in the lineup.

Including this season's playoffs the Celtics have won 13 of their last 14 games against the Heat.

Miami really has to play better perimeter D tonight, as in Game 2 the Celtics shot a 3-pt FG% of 60% (12/20) and Ray Allen was 7/9 from downtown.

In both games in Boston the Celtics have gone on huge runs and taken a big lead and the Heat cannot allow that to happen tonight.

Boston won both games at home and they are a solid road teams actually winning more games on the road than at home this season.

Betting Trends

Boston is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning record, 8-2-1 ATS in their last 11 playoff games as an underdog, and has an Over record of 8-3 in their last 11 games,

Miami is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games, 1-4-1 ATS in their last 6 games as a home favorite, and has an Over record of 5-2 in their last 7 games.

Boston is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games in Miami and in the last 8 games between these 2 teams the total has gone Over 6 times.

Our Selection : The Heat couldn't take advantage of a Celtics team without K. Garnett in their last game. They are at home for game 3, but that didn't change the outcome in the regular season where they lost both meetings versus Boston. Take the Celtics +4 at Sportsbook.com.


Future Betting Odds

NBA Handicapping

Dallas Mavericks at Miami Heat Odds 6-12
The Mavs are up 3-2 in this series heading to South Beach and for the Heat to force Game 7 they will have to play better in the 4th quarter, especially LeBron James. 5Dimes has the hometown Heat as 5-point favorites in Game 6 with a total of 187.

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