Heat vs. Trail Blazers Pick
Will the Portland Trail Blazers cover the 6.5-point spread at home tonight when they face the Miami Heat at 10:30PM ET?
507 Miami Heat at 508 Portland Trail Blazers, 10:30PM ET
CURRENT ODDS
According to oddsmakers at YouWager, the Trail Blazers are a 6.5-point favorite on the spread line. The total sits at 208 points.
Bet NBA Action For Monday, March 12, 2018
LINE MOVEMENT
Portland opened as a 6-point favorite before the line was bumped up half a point, while the total also went up slightly from 207.5. The spread is at -6.5 most places but can be found at -7, while the over-under is 208 at offshore books and 208.5 at Las Vegas sportsbooks.
PUBLIC BETTING
As of Monday afternoon, 61 percent of public bets are coming in on the Trail Blazers. Online wager info also says that 63 percent of bets are on the over.
INJURY TO WATCH
Heat center Hassan Whiteside (hip) will likely miss his second straight game. Justise Winslow (knee) is probable to play, while Dwyane Wade (hamstring) has been ruled out. For the Blazers, the lone injury on its report is to shooting guard CJ Wilcox (knee) as he remains out indefinitely.
BETTING STRATEGY
The Heat have won four of five games, but begin this road trip in a less than desirable setting as they had to fly all the way across the country to face Portland. With Wade and Whiteside out, it will hurt their offense as well as defensively as the latter is a strong rim protector. Portland is healthy and while this isn’t a great matchup for Damian Lillard, he is basically matchup proof right now. Look for CJ McCollum to also have a strong game, while if Jusuf Nurkic gets a reasonable amount of minutes at center he could be a major factor as he does not have to deal with the defense of Whiteside.
NBA DAILY PREDICTION: PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS -6.5