Posted on 1/25/2008 6:20:06 PM

NBA Wagering - Indiana vs. Miami

By D.S. Williamson

I’m predicting that the BetUS NBA betting line will fall anywhere between Indiana Pacers + 1 to Pacers + 2 in this game. Miami might actually be giving up more than that by tip-off as the Pacers played terribly versus the Milwaukee Bucks on the road on Thursday. Miami actually had their game versus the San Antonio Spurs won until the Spurs figured out that they were - - well, playing the Heat.

Here are some other trends for this game:

The Indiana Pacers are 4 and 1 against the spread in their last 5 games following a straight-up loss.

The ROAD team is 9 and 1 against the spread in the last 10 meetings between these two teams.

The Indiana Pacers are 7 and 0 against the spread in the last 7 meetings between these two teams in Miami.

The Miami Heat are 5 and 22 against the spread in their last 27 games at home.

There isn’t a whole lot here to like in either team. What compounds the problems is the fact that both Jermaine O’Neal and Shaquille O’Neal are injured. Neither will play for their respective teams in this game. That makes it doubly tough to call as both teams will be playing for something.

The Heat are getting pretty embarrassed about the fact that they’ve lost 15 games in a row. Even though it hurts to admit it, I do think they are sitting on a win. None of the trends say that the Heat will do anything come Saturday, but I have to believe that they are just as good as a Jermaine O’Neal less Indiana Pacers team. The Pacers burned me on Thursday night. I won’t let it happen again.

I’m going to have to go for the Heat in this one. Now, all that’s left is to figure out where the point spread will end up. I’m thinking that because the Heat are on the threshold of idiocy, they will ultimately come out fired up and play like a team on a mission. They have to. Without O’Neal the Pacers are a great opportunity for the Heat to break that 15 game losing streak.

Because I have so much faith in the Heat (I can barely stand how much faith I have!), I’m going to say that they are good wager at – 5.5 or lower in this game. There is no way BetUS NBA odds makers will make the Pacers the favorite after their performance on Thursday night.
I’m predicting that the BetUS point spread on this game will fall anywhere between – 2 to – 5.5. I like the Heat to cover that point spread.

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