{"id":21923,"date":"2012-03-01T14:34:12","date_gmt":"2012-03-01T19:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=21923"},"modified":"2012-03-01T14:34:12","modified_gmt":"2012-03-01T19:34:12","slug":"nba-predictions-miami-heat-vs-portland-trail-blazers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nba-predictions-miami-heat-vs-portland-trail-blazers-21923\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Predictions: Miami Heat vs. Portland Trail Blazers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miami Heat at Portland Trail Blazers
\nThursday, 3\/1\/12, 10:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 TNT
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Miami -4.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Miami -4.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 196
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 197.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Heat<\/a>
The Miami Heat will play their first game after the All-Star break on Thursday night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Miami embarks on a three-game road trip after enjoying the All-Star break and will look to push its current win streak to nine games.\u00a0 The Heat are always a lightning rod for controversy and star forward LeBron James came under fire after failing to take a shot in the fourth quarter in the East falling to the West in Orlando.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s an All-Star game. I mean, come on,\u201d commented Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra.\u00a0 The franchise is 12-5 on the road this year, but just 2-3 versus Western Conference opponents.\u00a0 Miami is 13-5 ATS as a road favorite of 3.5 to 6 points the last two-plus years.<\/p>\n

The Heat will be matching up with the Blazers only once this season, as the two teams split their 2010-11 series.\u00a0 Miami is 14-32 against Portland, including a 9-14 mark when playing on the road.\u00a0 During its current eight-game win streak, the team has won each of those contests by a double-digit margin.\u00a0 Offensively, the squad has managed to score at least 100 points in seven of its last eight games.\u00a0 A victory in this affair would give the franchise its best 35-game start in its history.<\/p>\n

Portland has alternated wins and losses in its last seven games, dropping a 104-95 decision to the Denver Nuggets as three-point road underdogs last night.\u00a0 \u201cWe just got outworked. Right from the start,\u201d commented Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan.\u00a0 The Blazers have won six of the past eight games between the two teams, but both of those losses occurred at the Rose Garden.\u00a0 There\u2019s no question that the squad will need to get after it defensively, allowing tonight\u2019s opponent to shoot 54.3 percent from the field in two games this year.\u00a0 Portland is 5-7 ATS in back-to-back games this season.<\/p>\n

The Blazers will lean heavily on LaMarcus Aldridge, who is third among Western Conference forward in averaging 22.3 points per game.\u00a0 Portland has sold out tonight\u2019s venue in 177 straight games, which should provide a great home court advantage for this marquee matchup.\u00a0 The team is the only one in the NBA with two different players that rank in the top 15 in the league in scoring off the bench, with Jamal Crawford and Nicolas Batum averaging 14.1 and 12.2 points respectively.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Heat due to their 7-1 ATS mark as a favorite, while the Trail Blazers are 1-7 ATS as an underdog of 4.5 points or less.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the NBA handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Miami Heat at Portland Trail Blazers Thursday, 3\/1\/12, 10:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 TNT Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Miami -4.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Miami -4.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 196 Current Total:\u00a0 197.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Miami embarks on a three-game road trip after enjoying the All-Star break and will look to push its current win streak to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":9323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[3622,3303,66,707,830,3914,3693],"class_list":["post-21923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-eastern-conference","tag-lamarcus-aldridge","tag-lebron-james","tag-miami-heat","tag-portland-trail-blazers","tag-rose-garden","tag-western-conference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21923","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=21923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21925,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21923\/revisions\/21925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}