New Jersey +7, o/u 187 ½ at Miami, 8 p.m. Eastern, TNT
by Ultimatecapper.com Staff
The Miami Heat look to salvage a split of the first two games of their Eastern Conference semi-final series with the New Jersey Nets when the teams hook up in Game 2 Wednesday night in South Florida.
New Jersey beat the Heat in Miami in Game 1 100-88 Monday night as four-point road underdogs, stealing home-court advantage in this series in the process. The game stayed under the posted total of 189 ½ by a basket.
Over the last couple of seasons, the Heat had beaten New Jersey 10 games in a row. That included a four-game, first-round sweep in the playoffs last season. But the Nets won the last three games of the season series with the Heat this season, going 4-0 vs. the spread. Also, the over/under went 4-0 in the four regular-season games between these two teams this season.
The Heat are 34-11 straight up at home this season, but just 17-26 vs. the number in home games, 5-14-1 ats over their last 20 at home, and just 9-22-1 ats in their last 31 overall.
The Nets are 23-22 both straight up and against the spread on the road this season.
The o/u is 24-21 in Heat home games this season, but 17-28 in Nets road games.
Miami shot just 70% from the free-throw line this season, which ranked them second from the bottom in the league.
But the Heat outrebounded opponents by over 4 per game, which ranked them at the very top in the league.
Also, the Heat have welcomed Alonzo Mourning back into the rotation. After missing a good part of the late regular season, Mourning returned to play 35 minutes over the last four games vs. Chicago. He played six minutes in Game 1 of this series.
Despite winning the season series vs. Miami, New Jersey was a +160 underdog to win this series.
Games 3 and 4 of this series are scheduled for Friday and Sunday in Jersey.
