{"id":12408,"date":"2011-01-12T11:06:19","date_gmt":"2011-01-12T16:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=12408"},"modified":"2011-01-12T11:06:19","modified_gmt":"2011-01-12T16:06:19","slug":"pro-basketball-handicapping-miami-heat-at-los-angeles-clippers-expert-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/pro-basketball-handicapping-miami-heat-at-los-angeles-clippers-expert-picks-12408\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro Basketball Handicapping: Miami Heat at Los Angeles Clippers Expert Picks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miami Heat at Los Angeles Clippers
\nWednesday, 1\/12\/11, 10:30 PM EDT
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Miami -7.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Miami -8
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 193.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 194<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Los Angeles Clippers are eight-point home underdogs against the Miami Heat at Staples Center Wednesday night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Miami has won 13 consecutive road games and 21 of 22 overall heading into tonight\u2019s matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center.\u00a0 The Heat have a chance of matching the league record for consecutive road wins if they finish their current five-game road trip unbeaten.\u00a0 The team is coming off its second consecutive overtime win, posting a 107-100 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, with star LeBron James leading the way with 44 points.\u00a0 \u201cYou look at games like this and you really understand why we decided to team up and come together,\u201d said star guard Dwyane Wade.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m just glad to experience wearing the same jersey that he wears.\u201d\u00a0 Miami is 11-5 versus the Western Conference this year, including a 7-3 mark away from home.\u00a0 The squad is 19-19 ATS on the season and currently a road favorite on the NBA lines page.<\/p>\n

The Heat and Clippers meet for the first of two match-ups this season, with the two clubs splitting the season series last year.\u00a0 Miami is 28-16 all-time against Los Angeles in the regular season, including a 13-9 record in Southern California.\u00a0 The experiment is starting to pay off for the Big Three joining forces, combining to score a season-best 96 points last time out against Portland.\u00a0 It was the 14th time this season in which they\u2019ve combined to score at least 75 points, posting a 13-1 mark in those contests.\u00a0 Wade has been especially hot in the scoring column, managing to post 30-plus points in five of his last seven games, averaging 31.9 points over that span.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles is starting to make some noise this season and has picked up five victories in the last six meetings at tonight\u2019s venue against Miami.\u00a0 \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter who we play,\u201d said rookie forward Blake Griffin.\u00a0 \u201cI think we have a talented team and as long as we prepare the right way and execute the right way I think we can be anybody.\u201d\u00a0 He managed to pick up his 23rd straight double-double Sunday with 23 points and 12 rebounds in a 105-91 victory over Golden State.\u00a0 He will be matched up with Chris Bosh, who has averaged 26.1 points and 10.8 rebounds in his last 10 games against the Clippers.\u00a0 Los Angeles is 2-7 versus the Eastern Conference this year, including a winless 0-5 mark at home.\u00a0 The squad is 10-12 ATS at home this season.<\/p>\n

The Clippers are undoubtedly led by the exciting play of rookie forward Blake Griffin, but their recent play is also a product of point guard Baron Davis.\u00a0 He ranks fifth in the NBA among all guards with a 3.9 assists per turnover ratio over the last 14 days.\u00a0 Overall this season, he is 10th in the league in the category.\u00a0 Guard Eric Gordon completes the backcourt and is averaging a career-high 23.5 points per game, the 10th-highest average in the NBA.<\/p>\n

Bettors will be interested in backing the Heat due to their 11-2 ATS mark on the road, while the Clippers are 2-10 ATS versus the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Miami Heat at Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday, 1\/12\/11, 10:30 PM EDT Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Miami -7.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Miami -8 Opening Total:\u00a0 193.5 Current Total:\u00a0 194 Miami has won 13 consecutive road games and 21 of 22 overall heading into tonight\u2019s matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center.\u00a0 The Heat have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":9302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12408","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=12408"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12412,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12408\/revisions\/12412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}