Miami Heat vs. Indiana Pacers Betting Odds – Game 6

Will the Miami Heat eliminate the Indiana Pacers Thursday night.  Game 6 betting odds were available at Sportsbook here.  This is Carrie Stroup  with your full report on this critical NBA Playoffs game….

Sportsbook.ag Line & Total: Miami -3.5 & 182

Opening Line & Total: Heat -3.5 & 18

After pounding the Pacers by 32 points at home in Game 5, the Heat look to close out their conference semifinal series on Thursday night at Indiana.

Tuesday’s game was reasonably close at halftime (Miami led 49-40), but the Pacers were outscored 66-43 in the second half. LeBron James dominated once again with 30 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and a +28 rating. His pal Dwyane Wade also had a huge scoring performance with 28 points (10-of-17 FG) and a +24 rating. Adding injury to insult, the Indiana lost both of its starting forwards as SF Danny Granger hurt his ankle and PF David West exited with a sprained left knee. Both players hope to suit up on Thursday night. Three other players may not be allowed to don a uniform for Game 6 because of flagrant fouls -- Heat PF Udonis Haslem and C Dexter Pittman and Pacers PF Tyler Hansbrough. In the past three seasons, Miami has taken five of seven games at Indiana, winning by 13, 9, 7, 15 and 8 points in Game 4. Not only are the Pacers 29-50 SU (37%) as a home underdog in the past six seasons, but they are also 5-16 ATS (24%) when facing a team with a winning percentage between 60% to 70% over the past two seasons.

The Heat dominated every facet of Game 5, outshooting the Pacers 61% FG (56% threes) to 34% FG (29% threes), outrebounding them 49-35 and outscoring them 46-26 in the paint. The Pacers have scored just 86.8 PPG on 39% FG in this series, while the Heat are averaging 92.2 PPG on 44% FG. Indiana is 26-12 SU at Bankers Life Fieldhouse this season, but only 4-3 (SU and ATS) as a home underdog. Miami is 19-13 SU (15-17 ATS) as a road favorite, and also 29-13 SU (20-22 ATS) with just one day of rest. The Pacers are 27-12 SU (19-20 ATS) on one day’s rest.

James continues to own this series with 30.4 PPG (50% FG), 11.8 RPG, 6.0 APG and 2.6 SPG. He has also been extremely efficient on the road in these playoffs with 30.3 PPG (46% FG), 9.3 RPG and 5.3 APG. Since an atrocious Game 3 (5 points, 2-of-13 FG), SG Dwyane Wade has played brilliant basketball with 29.0 PPG (58% FG), 6.0 RPG and 4.0 APG in his past two contests. But it wasn’t just the two superstars taking over Games 4-5 for Miami. PG Mario Chalmers, who stands just 6-foot-2, had a team-high 11 rebounds on Tuesday, while adding eight points, three assists and a +19 rating. Since starting out the series with nine points on 2-of-13 FG in Games 1-2, Chalmers has 13.7 PPG, 6.7 RPG and 3.7 APG in his past three contests. SF Shane Battier had been a non-factor in the first four games of the series (2.0 PPG on 2-of-19 FG, 2-of-12 threes), but he poured in 13 points on Tuesday night, making 4-of-5 threes and finishing with a +24 rating, thanks mostly to his typical stellar defense. And despite his ugly flagrant foul, PF Udonis Haslem still had 10 points and six rebounds in 17 minutes of action.

The Pacers could go with a much smaller lineup on Thursday depending on whether or not Granger or West are healthy enough to log a lot of minutes. The duo combined for just 20 points, five rebounds and a minus-25 rating in 52 minutes of action in Game 5. The pressure to score inside falls mostly on C Roy Hibbert, who was just 3-of-10 from the floor on Tuesday. For the series though, Hibbert has been strong with 12.4 PPG, 12.2 RPG and 2.6 BPG. Indiana’s backcourt also played poorly in Game 5 as SG George Hill and SG Paul George combined for just 17 points on 6-of-18 shooting, including 1-of-9 from three-point land. The five guards off the bench didn’t help the cause either as SG Dahntay Jones, SG Leandro Barbosa, PG Darren Collison, PG A.J. Price and SG Lance Stephenson combined for just 20 points on 7-of-30 FG. Collison did come up with four steals though and made all four of his free throws.

- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter