Miami Heat AT Utah Jazz
December 8th, 2010, 9:05 EST
Opening Line:  Utah Jazz -2
Current Line: Miami Heat -1
Current Total: 190
Current Moneyline:  Undefined

Miami, after flirting with a .500 record, have since won 5 straight games, notching wins over Milwaukee, Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, and Washington.  They have yet to lose in December.  They seek to avenge a two point loss at home to Utah on November 9th and are starting to show that they have the necessary cohesiveness and integration to do so.  Utah won their last game against Memphis by 11 points and have won 8 of their last 10 games, and now sport a 16-6 record.  They are 8-4 against the Eastern Conference and 9-4 at home.

Because of Miami’s propensity to blowout the poor teams, they have a great point differential of +8.5, outscoring their opponents on average 100.1 to 91.7.  Their 91.7 allowed is the lowest points allowed by any NBA team.  They also allow only 42.7% FG from opponents, also a league best.  The second best team in that statistic?  None other than Utah, who allow very close to the same 42.9%.

Miami is 5-12 ATS in their last 17 games and the total has gone OVER in four of Miami’s last six games on the road.  The total has gone UNDER in 7 of the last 9 home games for Utah.  The total has also gone over in 11 of the past 15 games between the teams.  Utah is 1-5 ATS over the last 6 games against Miami in Utah.

Some Key Matchups for tonight:

Andrei Kirilenko vs LeBron James

There aren’t a lot of players capable of giving LeBron problems on offense, but Kirilenko is one who can.  Standing 6’9 with arms that seem to stretch back to his homeland of Russia, Kirilenko has the length to frusterate LeBron and is going to be good with weak side blocks against Bosh and Wade.  He isn’t much of a scorer, but that isn’t what Utah needs from him anyway.  Last game against Utah, Kirilenko limited LeBron to 20 points, 3 below his season average.  LeBron has stepped up his scoring in recent games, however, and has scored 30 or more in 2 of his last 5 games.  Last game, though, against Milwaukee, he scored only 17, going 7 of 16 from the floor.  Kirilenko will allow LeBron to rest a little on defense, but that could be hazardous to the Heat as Kirilenko is a good player off the ball and can create well for teammates.

Paul Millsap vs Chris Bosh

Millsap absolutely punished Bosh last meeting in a second half Utah comeback, scoring 46 for the game, his career high.  Millsap also held Bosh to but 17 points that game, and Bosh is averaging his lowest since the 2004-2005 season.  He has improved in recent games, scoring 20 or more in 3 of his last 6 games, but will face a tough challenge in being covered by Millsap who has the lateral speed to keep Bosh in front of him and also has the muscle to push Bosh around down low.

Tonight’s game should be a very good one.  Miami will have to play a lot better than they did last outing against Utah, however, to have any chance at all.  Interesting to note is that the original line favored Utah but has since shifted to favor Miami.