NBA Betting Preview: Philadelphia 76ers at Miami Heat

Added on Apr 18, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NBA

The NBA playoffs are underway and we’ll take a look at an Eastern Conference game as the Miami Heat try to continue their drive to the championship as they face the feisty Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers gave the Heat a very competitive challenge in Game 1–although Miami ended up claiming the SU victory Philly cashed tickets for their financial backers.

Philadelphia 76ers at Miami Heat
April 18, 2011 4:05 PM Pacific

Dwayne Wade is expected to play although he sat out practice yesterday with a migraine headache. We expect the Heat to eventually eliminate the Sixers and advance to the next round of the NBA playoffs but we don’t see Philly going down without a fight. They’ve become a very competitive and defensively intense team under head coach Doug Collins and that was evident in Game 1 when nothing came easily for the Heat. The Sixers held the Heat to 41.9% shooting from the field and although Miami was able to match this effort on the defensive end it was far from the ‘cakewalk’ that many expected.

We don’t see that changing in Game 2 as this is simply the way the Sixers play basketball and why they’ve been such a great pointspread investment this season. Philly is 26-18 ATS as an underdog, 24-17 ATS on the road and 13-6 ATS against the Southeast Division. They were especially effective in ‘revenge’ situations–the Sixers were 28-17 ATS when revenging a loss against an opponent. This is a great pointspread category for the Sixers–they were 4-1 ATS as a road dog of +9′ to +12 points and 14-5 in this price range since 2008.

The Heat have too many weapons and we don’t see the Sixers stealing an outright win. We do expect Philadelphia to be competitive throughout this series and force Miami to fight on every possession. If the Sixers are able to steal a game it’ll likely be in Game 3 on their home court, but they’ve got a very good opportunity to stay within the generous pointspread here. Miami is focused on bigger matchups down the road and the Sixers are merely a nuicance. That’s a very dangerous mindset against a well coached and defensively tenacious Philadelphia team.

Bet Philadelphia 76ers +9′ over Miami Heat