NBA Betting – Miami Heat at Los Angeles Clippers
The Miami Heat are battling for a top seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture on the strength of one of the best home records in the NBA. If they want to continue their quest they need to improve on their mediocre road mark. They have chance to do that Wednesday inside Staples Center against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first of a season-long six-game road trip. And now that the Clips have their two superstars on the court together they could be ready to make a run at the Lakers for the top spot in the West. CLAIM YOUR WELCOME BONUS HERE - MAXIMUM $1000
Miami Heat at Los Angeles Clippers
Date and Time: Wednesday, February 5, 2020, 10 p.m. ET
Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Opening NBA Odds: Los Angeles -6.5, O/U 223
Heat at Clippers TV Coverage: ESPN
Odds Analysis
Take the Heat out of South Beach and they are an average club. Miami is just 12-12 SU and 11-12-1 ATS on the road this season. And the alarming splits don’t belong just in the overall record. Away from home the Heat get outscored by an average of 2.0 points per game. Their differential is plus-10.6 at home. Miami slapped Orlando, 102-89, in its last road game and extended a winning streak to two by downing Philadelphia 137-106 on Monday. At 35-15 following back-to-back wins, the Clippers have achieved the best 50-game start in franchise history. They also handed Miami a rare home loss a few weeks ago.
Miami Heat
I know the advantage of playing at home means more in the NBA than any other sport, but this is crazy. How can one team be so dominant in its barn and so average away from it? I’m sure Erik Spoelstra would love to hear it if you have a reasonable explanation. The Heat have been loitering around the top of the East standings all season and we’ll get a good idea just how good they are on this road trip.
This figures to be the most difficult matchup of the bunch with four of the next five games against teams currently below .500, including tilts against each conference’s last-place team. The Heat have to get past this one first and it’s no easy task. Miami doesn’t matchup in the superstar department, but they do have depth to rival the Clips, and they use it. Seven players average in double figures led by Jimmy Butler’s 20.7 points per game, and as a team they score 112.3 points a night aided by the league’s second-best accuracy mark from three-point range.
As noted above, though, the numbers take a drastic dip on the road. The Heat average more than 10 fewer points per game and their three-point shooting is several percentage points lower. Miami is coming off one of its more complete performances of the season – at home – in a 137-106 win over Philadelphia where they scored a franchise record 81 points in the second half.
Los Angeles Clippers
With the city of Los Angeles and the Clippers grieving over the sudden loss of Kobe Bryant, basketball took a step back to the game of life. Having last week’s game against the Lakers postponed gave the club a few extra days to recover and they obviously hadn’t when taking the floor for the first time since the hoops icon passed. The Clippers were blown away by Sacramento last Thursday, not a complete surprise considering the circumstances and that Kawhi Leonard didn’t play.
There was some good news from that game. Paul George was on the court after missing nine games and he looked rusty, but so did the rest of the team after an emotionally-charged pregame tribute to Bryant. George scored eight points on 2 of 10 shooting and played just over 19 minutes in his first action since Jan. 5.
Two days later the stars were aligned in the Clippers universe. Both Leonard and George played together in the same game for the first time since Jan. 2 and just the 19th time this season combining to score 52 points in a 118-106 win over Minnesota. The two rallied the team to a win over San Antonio on Monday, and having them as starters has helped the league’s best bench, which returned to a normal rotation with Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell as reserves.
Bet Heat at Clippers at BookMaker.eu
It’s hard to overlook Miami’s mediocre play on the road this season. Meanwhile, the Clippers have won 22 of 27 games inside Staples – one victory as the “road” team against the Lakers. Kawhi’s first triple-double lifted LA to win in Miami a few weeks back, and now they have George in the lineup with a few games under his belt. Both clubs go deep down the bench wiping out any advantage the Heat would have, and that results in a Clips home win.
NBA Score Prediction: Los Angeles 113, Miami 104
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