NBA Spreads: Atlanta Hawks at Miami Heat
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
The Miami Heat will look to snap a three game losing streak when they host the Atlanta Hawks tonight. Tip-off is set for 7:30 ET at AmericanAirlines Arena.
The Heat fell 99-96 at Chicago, but were once again without LeBron James, who has missed the last two games with a sprained left ankle. While the Heat hope that James can return to face the Hawks, the Heat will more than likely be without Chris Bosh, who injured his ankle against the Bulls.
The Hawks struggled against the Kings on Monday, but were able to win the game 100-98, thanks to two late free throws from Joe Johnson. The Hawks come into the game playing pretty solid basketball, as they have won eight of their last 10.
Taking a look at the NBA spreads for tonight’s action, oddsmakers have the Heat favored by 6.5-points over the Hawks at home with the total sitting at 190.
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The Hawks lost at Miami 89-77 back on Dec. 4, but were without Johnson, who has really picked up his play lately. Johnson had a season-high 36 points against the Kings yesterday, despite the fact that he was just 1-7 from three-point range. Johnson is averaging 28.8 over his last five games, and will need to continue to shoot the ball well for the Hawks to have a chance tonight.
With Johnson not in the picture the first time these two teams faced off, Al Horford led the way with 22 points and nine rebounds, but no other player scored over 12 points for the Hawks. It was the second-lowest scoring night of the season for Atlanta. The Hawks are averaging just 80.5 points over their last four games against the Heat, and are just 3-25 at Miami since the 1996-98 season.
While the Heat expect to get James back, not having Bosh could be a problem for Miami. Bosh had a game-high 27 points to go along with 10 rebounds in the win over Atlanta. Dwyane Wade had 26 and James had 22. The rest of the Heat roster had just 14 points.
While there is little hope to stopping James and Wade from getting their 20-plus, it is going to be big for the Heat to get some kind of production out of the other guys. Eddie House had 13 points and Mario Chalmers added 10 points off the bench.
With Bosh unable to go, the Heat have to be concerned about their defense down low. Bosh has done a pretty solid job controlling the paint this season, but who for Miami is going to be able to slow down Horford.
This is a difficult game to predict, but I think Atlanta has been looking forward to this game for some time now, and I think they are going to come out and really play the Heat tough. I don’t know if it will be enough to win the game, but I think you have to take the 6.5 points.
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