Posted on
12/6/2007 3:16:04 PM
Basketball Betting Odds - Heat (-3.5) vs. Trailblazers (+3.5)
By D.S. Williamson
This is what I like to call an “against the grain” game because most of the trends favor the team that I don’t like. I’ll write who that is in a moment, but, for now, let’s go over some recent history, shall we?
The Miami Heat won the NBA Championship two years ago versus the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks haven’t fallen too far - - yes, you’d have to consider them at this point to be a B-Type team, unable to beat the likes of the Suns, Spurs, or maybe even the Nuggets (watch tonight’s game closely!).
The Heat are just awful. They’ve gone from being one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference to a work of extreme madness. I cannot explain how bad this team really is. I mean, every day, while writing up these articles, I take a look at the stat averages as well as the trends.
The Heat average about 89 points a game. Ouch. They give up, on average over 95 points a game. Double-ouch. They play in the freaking Eastern Conference and give up 95 points a game while averaging only 89?
Their field goal percentage is 44%. Now, that wouldn’t be bad except their top-scorer is Shaquille O’Neal. The man only shoots about 1 or 2 feet from the basket nowadays. Ugly.
Yet, with all of that being said, the trends point to the Heat in this game:
The Miami Heat are 8 and 2 against the spread in their last 10 games versus a team from the NBA Northwest.
The Portland Trailblazers are 2 and 9 against the spread in their last 11 games overall.
The Road Team is 7 and 2 against the spread in the least 9 meetings between these two teams.
There is not a single trend in the Portland Trailblazers’ favor yet, call me crazy, I have to go with the Blazers in this one. Straight-up, the Blazers are 5 and 3 at home. If they were giving up points - - I can’t understand how they aren’t - - I’d definitely be thinking hard about putting some mullah on the Heat.
But, the Blazers aren’t giving up points. They’re getting points. They’re also a younger team with more heart who can run the Heat ragged if they wanted to.
I just can’t support the Heat in this game.
The BetUS basketball betting line is Portland Trailblazers + 3.5 against the spread at home versus the Miami Heat.
I’m backing the Blazers in this one.
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