{"id":11483,"date":"2010-12-13T10:59:57","date_gmt":"2010-12-13T15:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=11483"},"modified":"2010-12-13T10:59:57","modified_gmt":"2010-12-13T15:59:57","slug":"free-nba-picks-new-orleans-hornets-vs-miami-heat-betting-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/free-nba-picks-new-orleans-hornets-vs-miami-heat-betting-predictions-11483\/","title":{"rendered":"Free NBA Picks: New Orleans Hornets vs Miami Heat Betting Predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Orleans Hornets at Miami Heat
\nMonday, 12\/13\/10, 7:30 PM EDT
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Miami -9.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Miami -11
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 184.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 185<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade has scored 20 or more points in nine of the last 10 games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New Orleans opened the season with a hot 11-1 start and has now fallen back down to Earth, including an 88-70 loss at Philadelphia on Sunday.\u00a0 The Hornets managed to score just 23 points in the first half of the contest and have averaged just 89.4 points over their last 11 games.\u00a0 \u201cWe kept settling for outside jump shots instead of attacking the basket,\u201d said point guard Chris Paul.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s been like that for awhile.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got to figure out ways to score.\u00a0 Many experts are pointing to the fact that the team isn\u2019t creating enough scoring opportunities, tallying just four assists last time out, which is shocking due to Paul averaging 10.0 a game.\u00a0 New Orleans is 11-11 ATS on the season and is currently a double-digit underdog on the NBA lines page.<\/p>\n

The Hornets defense continues to be the team\u2019s strength in giving up 93.4 points over the last 11 contests, but that number is up from the 90.4 they allowed in the first 12 games.\u00a0 Tonight marks the final meeting of the season between the two teams, as New Orleans captured a 96-93 home win on November 5, 2010.\u00a0 In that contest, center Emeka Okafor had 26 points and 13 rebounds, while Paul dished out a season-high 19 assists.\u00a0 The franchise has actually won eight of the last 10 games between the two teams, dating back to January 4, 2006.\u00a0 New Orleans owns a winless 0-3 mark on Mondays this season.<\/p>\n

Miami has been firing on all cylinders in capturing eight consecutive victories by double digits, with an average margin of victory of 17.8 points.\u00a0 \u201cWe have a different mentality both off the floor and on the court as well,\u201d said guard Dwyane Wade.\u00a0 \u201cWe understood and knew November was a tough month for us.\u201d\u00a0 The All-Star guard has been leading the offensive attack by scoring 20 points or more in nine of his last 10 games.\u00a0 He finished with 36 points on 15-of-23 shooting Saturday against the Kings.\u00a0 Forward Chris Bosh has also chipped in on the offensive end, scoring in double figures in each of the Heat\u2019s 25 games.\u00a0 Miami is 5-8 ATS at home this season.<\/p>\n

The Heat are now 17-8 overall on the season and have posted a 5-4 mark against the Western Conference.\u00a0 Miami is 32-38 all-time versus New Orleans, including a 20-14 record in games played in South Beach.\u00a0 The eight-game winning streak is the team\u2019s longest of the season and it\u2019s longest streak since winning nine consecutive games from March 20-April 7, 2010.\u00a0 Rebounding has also been a key ingredient to the squad\u2019s recent success, out-rebounding opponents by 14.3 boards a game over the last four contests.<\/p>\n

Bettors will be interested in the Hornets 4-0 ATS mark as an underdog of 11.0 points or more, while the Heat are 6-0 ATS as a favorite.<\/p>\n

The NBA handicappers at Maddux Sports are off to a flying start and ready to place you in the winner\u2019s circle tonight!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Orleans Hornets at Miami Heat Monday, 12\/13\/10, 7:30 PM EDT Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Miami -9.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Miami -11 Opening Total:\u00a0 184.5 Current Total:\u00a0 185 New Orleans opened the season with a hot 11-1 start and has now fallen back down to Earth, including an 88-70 loss at Philadelphia on Sunday.\u00a0 The Hornets […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":9351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[692,837,2896,3594,707,836],"class_list":["post-11483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-chris-bosh","tag-chris-paul","tag-dwyane-wade","tag-emeka-okafor","tag-miami-heat","tag-new-orleans-hornets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11483"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11484,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11483\/revisions\/11484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}