Miami Heat at Dallas Mavs: NBA Betting Odds & Picks
Written April 1, 2009 by Jordan Haimowitz
The Miami Heat are led by MVP candidate Dwyane Wade. The NBA superstar has taken his game to a whole new level this year. Wade averages 30 points, 5 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game. The way he makes his teammates better is blatant which has led to a sure fire playoff spot for his team. Miami did select two good young rookies in Michael Beasley, who has shown signs of being great, and point guard Mario Chalmers, who was the hero for Kansas in the NCAA championship last year. They made a fantastic trade with Toronto getting rid of a the overrated forward Shawn Marion for an impact player in Jermaine O’Neal, plus Jamario Moon who both start for them and both contribute. I still find it amazing how a guy like Marion wanted out of Miami. Imagine that, a guy being angry he has to play with D-Wade, mind blowing. The Heat have struggled recently going 4-6 in their last 10 games. That included two bad loses against the Pacers and Nets. The Heat are 13-23 on the road this year, they will look to improve on that tonight. Their opponent tonight is the playoff hungry Dallas Mavericks. The main match up without a shadow of a doubt tonight will be Josh Howard vs Jamario Moon. If Moon plays well tonight and is able to neutralize Howard, that will go a long way to for the Heat to win this game on the road. Beasley could also see a decent amount of time trying to stop the multi-talented forward in Howard who can create for himself very nicely. With that said, anytime you Have Dwyane Wade on your team, you always have a shot. Looking at the NBA odds for tonight’s game, the side is set at Dallas -5.5 against Miami and the total is set for 196.5 points.
The Dallas Mavericks are looking to seal the deal on that final playoff spot. They are four games ahead of the Suns for the eighth seed. The Mavs are 5-5 in their last 10 games overall. Dallas is led by who other than Dirk Nowitzki, who averages 25 points and 8 rebounds per game. Now, while every person in America hammered the Mavs for making that deal for Kidd (which the criticism is somewhat justified as they over-payed drastically) Jason Kidd is having a very productive year averaging 9 points, 6 rebounds and 8.5 assists per game. He fills the stat sheet, but much more importantly than that factor, he has made guys like Antoine Wright, Jason Terry and big man Brandon Bass better. The Mavs average almost identical numbers to their opponent the Miami Heat. Dallas averages three more points per game while the Heat give up one less against. They shoot the same percentage from the field while Dallas grabs an average of three more rebounds per game. The one area where The Mavs gain the clear edge is from the line as they shoot 81% to Miami’s 76%. It will be interesting to see Coach Carlisle’s game plan to stop D-Wade. Kidd is most likely too small to guard Wade while Jason Terry off the bench is too weak. I can see them sticking small forward Josh Howard on him, which would lead to a possible mis-match for Miami in transition. This game seems way to0 close to call. The Mavericks are currently favored by 5.5 points. Not too risky, however, the O/U is sitting at 196.5 which looks tasty. The last two times these teams squared off the total of points scored hit 207. Look for the OVER to hit even more than that tonight.
Haimo’s: Hot Notes: The Mavericks defeated the Heat 111-96 in the last meeting between these teams. Dallas is already up a comfortable four games on the Suns and this would put a strangle hold on them. The Heat are playoff- bound and can get anywhere from the 4-7 seed. This game isn’t a MUST win for either team, while Dallas does need it more, they aren’t desperate for it. The OVER is 7-1 in Dallas for the last eight games. Expect it to be 8-1 after tonight. The game will be in transition and both teams have outside shooters. OVER 196.5.
We went 2-2 yesterday hitting both NBA and losing both NCAA NIT games. We have two NBA games tonight that look great, let’s get it done.
Betting Line: Heat vs Mavs O/U 196.5
Jordan’s Pick: Heat vs Mavs Take OVER 196.5
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