The Miami Heat will look to salvage what has been a disastrous six game road swing when they take on the Golden State Warriors at the ORACLE Arena in Oakland later tonight. This evening’s meeting between the Heat and Warriors has a scheduled start time of 10:30pm ET on ESPN. The latest NBA Odds have Miami listed as a -2.5 against the spread road favorite and the Over/Under set at 204 points. Golden State is a +120 moneyline play ($100 wins $120) to hand the defending champion Heat their fourth loss in five games.
When Miami departed for Indiana on Sunday, January 6th, it had to be feeling pretty good. The Heat had just destroyed the Wizards 99-71 at the AmericanAirlines Arena to improve to 23-9 overall and further secure their first place standing in the Southeast Division.
It has been almost all downhill for the Heat since that victory, though. LeBron James and company were knocked off 87-77 by the Pacers last Tuesday, a loss which they followed up with a 92-90 setback at Portland on Thursday. Miami recovered briefly over the weekend, pounding the Kings 128-99 in Sacramento, but the fell to 1-3 on their current six game road swing with 104-97 loss at Utah on Monday night.
The Heat were so ineffective against the Jazz that Head Coach Erik Spoelstra benched both Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in hopes of lighting a fire under his road weary troops. His team did not get the message soon enough to get past the Jazz, but, perhaps, his tactics will pay dividends tonight.
Spoelstra can only hope as his team is a meager 3-7 on the road this season against winning teams. And the Warriors, despite a recent 1-3 stretch of their own, are a winning team at 23-13 overall.
Golden State, which sits 5.5 games back of the first place Clippers in the Pacific, has also been a difficult out at the ORACLE Arena. The Warriors are 12-5 in 17 home games and they are 7-1 opposite visiting Eastern Conference teams this season.
Free Pick: Take the Over 204. The Over is 11-4-1 over the last two years when Golden State played as a home dog coming off a road loss. The Over is 8-1-1 in the Warriors last 10 games as a home dog with a spread between 0 and 3.5 points.
Miami Heat vs Golden State Warriors NBA Odds:
Miami Heat -2.5 (-110), Over 204 (-110), -140 (Moneyline)
Golden State Warriors +2.5 (-110), Under 204 (-110), +120 (Moneyline)
Basketball Betting Tips
Host Marco D'Angelo along with Johnny Detroit and Bryan Leonard discuss some betting tips for College and Pro Basketball.
-$25 of picks FREE! No Obligation - No Credit Card Required - Becoming a member is Fast and Free!
Keep up with the latest NBA SDQL from Dr. Ed Meyer at the Pregame Forum! Click Here.