The NBA teams are now officially inside the bubble in Orlando and awaiting the restart of the season, which comes on July 30. Each team will play 8 games in order to set up the final playoff rankings, which might lead is to a play-in series if the team in the #9 spot is withing 4 games of the team at #8. The games are going to come thick and fast, and not every team is going to be able to adapt to this unique situation as well as others. It’s also worth noting that several key players have decided to opt out of this tournament, which is something you need to pay attention to when it comes time to start making picks and wagering on games. We are going to take a closer look at teams to see how they might make out once the action does commence, so let’s get the ball rolling with the Miami Heat so you can start planning ahead your bets against their NBA odds.
Miami Heat Return to Play Preview
Miami Heat Season to Date
When the NBA season went into lockdown, the Miami Heat were in a very comfortable position. They were sitting at 41-24, which has them in as the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference, as well as having them up by 11 games in the Southeast Division. They would need to make up 2 ½ games on the Boston Celtics in order to move up out of the #4 spot, which is not going to be easy to do with the limited number of games on the restart schedule.
One of the problems that this teams is going to need to come to terms with is their play outside of their own building. At home, the Miami Heat were one of the best in the league, posting a 27-5 record, but things were not anywhere near as good on the road. In fact, they were 5 games below .500 at 14-19 in road games, so how is that going to translate to this tournament?
Another problem that they might have is that they picked up the majority (27) of their wins against teams with a record below .500. They do have a winning record against better teams, but their 14-10 mark there is still not entirely convincing with the playoffs right around the corner. The Heat are basically in the middle of the pack in points scored per game (112.2) and points allowed per game (108.9).
Prediction for the Miami Heat
This is a team that is more than likely going to land as the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference, which would pit them against the Pacers or the 76ers in the opening round. With no home court advantage to speak of, the Miami Heat might well be in a little bit of trouble facing either of those teams. They might well move on past the opening round, but I do not see them going much further than that. They are definitely a longshot to win the NBA Title this season.
