NBA Picks

NBA Betting Game Trends

Game Overview

The Miami Heat proved all the naysayers wrong with back-to-back victories over Boston to advance to their second-straight appearance in the NBA Finals. You can attribute a good portion of Saturday night’s 101-88 victory in Game 7 as eight-point home favorites to Chris Bosh being back in the lineup for most of the game after missing substantial time with an abdominal strain, but LeBron James and Dwyane Wade also showed the world that the Big Three are still alive and playing at the top of their games.

Miami’s run through the postseason started with a five-game victory over the New York Knicks in the first round and six-game roll over Indiana before going the distance against the Celtics in the conference finals. It is now 12-6 straight-up and 11-7 against the spread in 18 playoff games. The total has gone ‘over’ in 10 of the games overall and in eight of the last 10. James has led the way with 30.8 points and 9.6 rebounds including 76 points in his last two games. Wade has played inconsistent throughout the postseason but is still averaging 22.9 points and Bosh has added 13.7 points and 6.9 rebounds in nine playoff games.

Oklahoma City finds itself in the Finals for the first time after an impressive run of its own. First, it took-out the defending champion Dallas Mavericks in four straight games before knocking-off the Los Angeles Lakers in five games in the conference semifinals. It took the Thunder six games to oust the No.1-seed San Antonio Spurs in the conference finals to run their overall record in the playoffs to 12-3 SU and 10-4-1 ATS. The total has gone ‘over’ in 11 of the 15 games.

This team’s big three players may be even more potent than the Heat’s with Kevin Durant posting an average of 27.8 points and 7.9 rebounds while Russell Westbrook and James Harding are combining for 39.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 8.9 assists a game. Serge Ibaka is the Thunder’s fourth player scoring in double figures with an average of 10.7 points a game to go along with his 5.9 rebounds.

Prediction

Oklahoma has had close to a week off while Miami will be playing on just two day’s rest. The Thunder may suffer from a bit of rust, but expect the Heat to suffer from the physical and emotional strain of its seven-game set against Boston as Oklahoma grabs the early edge while covering the five points. Oklahoma City 106 Miami 94