Miami Heat (15-12) travel to TD Garden to play the Boston Celtics (15-11) tonight. The Celtics stand as 6.5pt favourites, with the total points spread at 233.5.
Boston have been in strong form, winning seven of their last ten games. The key to their strong form has been solid ball movement and error free basketball. In the last ten games, only NBA champions Oklahoma City Thunder have turned the ball over less than Boston. Jaylen Brown has shouldered the responsibility of scoring brilliantly in the absence of Jayson Tatum, averaging 29.3 PPG (6th in NBA). Payton Pritchard, the reigning Sixth man of the year has also enjoyed his new role of starting Point Guard.
Miami broke a five game losing streak against Brooklyn last night. Despite the poor run of form, fans are excited about the more front foot DNA of the team this season. In his 17 years of leadership of Miami, the team have never averaged more PPG than this season’s current total of 120.2 (5th in NBA).
Injury Report:
Miami Heat:
- Nikola Jovic: Out (Elbow), Tyler Herro: Day-To-Day (Toe), Pelle Larsson: Day-To-Day (Ankle)
Boston Celtics:
- Jayson Tatum: Out (Achilles), Ron Harper Jr.: Day-To-Day (Knee), Josh Minott: Probable (Back), Sam Hauser: Probable (Ankle)
Our Selection:
1u: Miami Heat +6.5 pts (-110)
Miami have covered this spread in 65% of their last 20 matches. I don’t believe Boston will dominate this matchup, but it will come down to how well Miami can slow down the scoring of Jaylen Brown.
Key Stats:
