San Antonio Spurs (39-25 SU 32-32 ATS) vs. Miami Heat (35-32 SU 34-33 ATS) American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL 7:30 PM EST Tuesday March 16, 2010 on NBA TV
by Jason Green at Predictem.com
Point Spread: Spurs +1.5/Heat -1.5
Over/Under: 187
Tonight in South Florida in a match up of a couple of streaking teams the Miami Heat host the San Antonio Spurs. The Heat have won 3 in a row, are 6-4 in their last 10 games, and are tied with the Charlotte Bobcats for the 6th position in the Eastern Conference.
The Spurs have also won 3 straight, are 8-2 in their last 10 games, and in the 7th position in the Western Conference. The Spurs need to keep winning, as they are only game behind Phoenix and ahead of Portland. San Antonio really wants to move up in the conference, as they do not want to face the Lakers in the 1st round of the playoffs. They are only 2.5 games back of 4th place Utah and if they can finish the season well they may host a 1st round playoff series.
This season the Heat are 20-14 at home and the Spurs are 15-15 on the road.
Spurs star PG Tony Parker is out for the rest of the regular season with a broken hand, but his backup George Hill (12.1 ppg) has played great in his absence. Hill is averaging 16.6 ppg while shooting 63.2% (12 for 19) from 3-point land in his last 7 games.
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The Heat only rank 26th in the league in scoring, but luckily they should get PF Michael Beasley (15.3 ppg) back in the lineup tonight after he missed the last 2 games due to an injury.
Beasley and the other Heat players really have to help Dwayne Wade (26.5 ppg) on offense, as if that does not happen they will lose this game.
The Spurs are a slid team on the boards and the main frontcourt players for the Heat of Beasley, Jermaine O’Neal (13.6 ppg 7.2 rpg) and PF Udonis Haslem (9.5 ppg 7.6 rpg) have to hit the glass hard tonight. They cannot allow Tim Duncan (18.7 ppg 10.4 rpg) to dominate the boards or score easy buckets in the paint.
In their last game the Spurs crushed the L.A. Clippers 118 to 88 on Saturday. The high scorer for San Antonio in the game was reserve Matt Bonner going for 21 points on 8/9 shooting. For the game the Spurs shot lights out going 51/87 for a scorching FG% of 58.6%. On D the Spurs allowed the Clippers to shoot 37/82 for a FG% of 45.1%.
The Heat won their last game beating the Philadelphia 76ers 104-91 on Sunday. Dwayne Wade was the high scorer for Miami in the game going for 38 points on 14/25 shooting. For the game the Heat shot 39/79 for a FG% of 49.4%. On defense the Heat were solid holding the 76ers to 32/86 for a FG% of 37.2%.
This season the Spurs rank 14th in scoring (101 ppg) while the Heat only rank 26th (96.5 ppg). On defense both teams are solid, as the Heat rank 5th in opponents’ points allowed (95.2 ppg) and the Spurs rank 7th (96 ppg). This season the Spurs have been better on the boards, as they have a rebounding differential of +3.0 rpg and the Heat are at +0/8 rpg.
According to the Sagarin NBA ratings the Spurs rank 8th (93.48) and the Heat rank 14th (91.17).
Miami is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 home games, 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games, and 6-2 ATS in their last 8 games against teams with a winning record.
Miami has an Over record of 6-0 in their last 6 home games and an Under record of 14-2 in their last 16 games against teams with a winning record.
San Antonio is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 road, 7-0 ATS in their last 7 games, and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 road games against teams with a winning home record.
San Antonio has an Under record of 5-1 in their last 6 games, and an Under record of 14-6 in their last 20 road games.
On the injury front PG Rafer Alston is Out and SF Dorell Wright is day-to-day for Miami while San Antonio is not reporting any significant injuries.
Jason’s Pick: I like the Spurs to win straight up here in what should be a very tight game throughout.
