Thursday NBA Playoffs Free Pick
(The Spread) – The Miami Heat will look to close out the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night and head to the 2011 NBA Finals with a victory.
View Current 2011 NBA Playoff Odds
Oddsmakers from online sports book SBGGLOBAL.com have made the Bulls 3-point favorites over the visiting Heat for tonight’s Game 5 matchup. The opening tip off is set for 8:30PM ET tonight and the over/under total is currently sitting at 179.5 points.
These two teams went into overtime on Tuesday night when the Heat pulled off a 101-93 victory and covered as a 5-point favorite. LeBron James led Miami with 35 points and six rebounds, while Chris Bosh, who has played very well this series, scored 22 points and also grabbed six boards.
For the Bulls, Derrick Rose paced the team with 23 points and six assists, while Carlos Boozer and Luol Deng each scored 20 points apiece. Joakim Noah grabbed a team-high 14 boards and finished with six points and six assists.
NBA Playoffs Free Pick: I’ve backed the Bulls a couple of times in this series but you can’t allow that to make your pick for you. According to latest NBA trends, the Heat are 5-12-2 against the spread in their last 19 trips to Chicago and the home team is 8-3-1 ATS in the last 12 meetings between these two teams. I don’t see Miami closing things out on the Bulls’ home floor tonight. While I have my doubts about Chicago’s ability to win the series down 3-1, the Bulls are better than what they’ve shown and I don’t think they’ll go quietly into the night. If you wait long enough, the public should start pounding the Heat and you may be able to get the line at Bulls –2.5 or even –2.
NBA PLAYOFFS FREE PICK: CHICAGO BULLS –3
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