Atlanta Hawks vs. Miami Heat Prediction, NBA Odds
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Edgar Chaput
For those less familiar with the concept of the Play-In, essentially the teams that finish ninth and 10th partake in a single-round elimination game, as do the clubs that earned the eighth and seventh seeds. The loser of the nine v 10 contest is eliminated whereas the winner plays the loser of eight vs seven. The winner of the latter gains passage to the real postseason.
In this case, Atlanta and Miami were eighth and seventh respectively in the Eastern Conference, so the winner gets the seventh seed once the traditional playoff format begins this weekend. Vegas has Erik Spoelstra’s Heat unit as a 5- favourite on the NBA odds. The total has been tabulated to be 227.0
Hawks vs. Heat NBA Betting Odds
The Floridian side has the upper hand in this game for two notable reasons. First, it will be played at the Kaseya Center where the Heat have been excellent, going 27-14. Conversely, Atlanta is a poor away side, what with their 14-27 record. Second, the Heat won the regular season series 3-1 over the Hawks, with two of those victories coming in early March in one of those scheduling quirks when teams face each other in back-to-back games in the same city. As such, the Heat should be heading into this game relatively confident.
We also highlight that these foes were first-round playoff rivals in last year’s postseason. While Atlanta was also an eight seed, the Heat were the top dog in the East, and expediently turned out the lights on Atlanta’s season, winning 4-1.
The Hawks were not especially good against the spread this season, finishing with a mediocre 36-44-2. The last couple of weeks of their season made this weakness abundantly clear, as the Georgia-based outfit only covered six of its last eight spreads. That said, they did go 3-3 ATS in their six most recent road games.
Of note, Miami was no better ATS in 2022-2023, capping its campaign 30-49-3. It just goes to show how vastly different the outcomes can be for teams that still mustered respectable seasons (the Heat went 44-38). Miami wasn’t quite as poor with respect to spreads down the stretch, even though at 5-5 they were far from excellent.
Atlanta Hawks
Sunday afternoon’s game in Boston was one of many contests on the NBA schedule that didn’t mean much apart from being an opportunity for lesser-known players to get some minutes. To no one’s surprise, Trae Young, Clint Capela and Dejounte Murray were nowhere to be found on the court.
Bruno Fernando and Garrison Matthews were tied for the team lead in points with 19 apiece. In fact, five players notched point totals in the double digits, which was nice to see. The game itself evolved in a curious manner. Atlanta won three of the four periods, albeit by only a few points each time. Boston, also letting bench warmers play, completely dominated the third quarter, thus winning 120-114. Payton Pritchard recorded a triple-double, Mike Muscala was good for 27 points, and Sam Hauser had a second consecutive excellent match with 26.
Miami Heat
Much the same can be said about the Heat’s Sunday bout with state rivals the Orlando Magic, although some bigger names did play a few minutes. Udonis Haslem, who will retire at the end of the season, made his team proud with 24 points off 9-for-17 shooting. Duncan Robinson, who has been a regular in the rotation this year, was on the court the most often (35 minutes, 20 points). It isn’t often that 15 players get to play some ball in a single game, but that’s what will happen in these late regular season games when coaches want to make sure everyone stays alert whilst avoiding injuries. Heat finish the season strong, winning 123-110.
ATL
MIA