NBA Betting: Sacramento Kings at Miami Heat

Added on Feb 22, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NBA

Online betting enthusiasts are glad to see the NBA back in business, and this non-conference matchup between the Sacramento Kings and Miami Heat presents an interesting basketball betting opportunity. Everyone knows the deal with Miami–the Heat are tied with Boston atop the Eastern Conference as the second half of the season begins. Sacramento has been playing better of late and not the ATS embarassment they were earlier this year but are still near the bottom of the table in the Western Conference.

Sacramento Kings at Miami Heat
February 22, 2011 4:35 PM Pacific

Tough scheduling spot for the Heat and one that they could very easily ‘phone in’ against an opponent from the Western Conference that won’t provide much intrinsic motivation. D-Wade tweaked his ankle in the All Star Game but is listed as ‘probable’ hear but you could very likely see him, LeBron and Bosh play reduced minutes after seeing a lot of playing time in Los Angeles. For Sacramento, Tyreke Evans has been downgraded to ‘doubtful’ with plantar fascitis. Evans’ absence keeps us from having any interest in taking Sacramento plus the points despite Miami’s 9-15 ATS record at home.

The absence of Evans and his 18.3 PPG plays right into the position we are going to take on this game–we’ll look to go Under a very generous total of 204. The Heat went Over in 7 of 10 heading into the break and Sacramento went Over in 6 of their L7 and 7 of their last 10. The Kings aren’t much defensively and obviously if the Heat wanted to ‘name the score’ they could but why would they with a much more significant game against the Chicago Bulls on deck for Thursday night on national TV? The looming challenge of the East’s #3 team is all the more justification for a reduced workload for LeBron, Wade and Bosh against Sacto. Miami had no trouble with the Kings even before the ‘Big 3′ showed up–Heat have won 21 of 27 meetings going 23-4 ATS. In Miami, they’ve won and covered 12 of 13. In the only meeting this season the Heat easily handled the Kings at Arco Arena (or whatever its called now) winning 104-83. Look for a similar scoreline tonight which will give us an easy win on the Under. 10 of the last 13 head to head in Miami have gone Under and with the Kings’ leading scorer out of the lineup and a big game on deck for the Heat this one should as well.

Bet Miami/Sacramento Under 204