Lakers vs. Heat Point Spread: NBA Odds, Prediction
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Jeremy Perry
The Los Angeles Lakers are slowly beginning to play closer to the way they need to play but they stumbled on Saturday night. Can they get back on track against a Miami Heat team that is not playing anywhere close to the level they need in order to be successful this season? We’ll find out as the two sides meet on Sunday in Miami.
NBA Point Spread and Betting Analysis
The Lakers enter Sunday’s game 7-9 straight up and 5-10 against the spread. They’ve been one of the worst bets on the year as they’ve frequently disappointed on the spread. The Lakers are now just 1-6 ATS against teams with a losing record and 0-3 ATS in non-conference games.
The Heat are 6-9 straight up and 6-9 against the spread heading into this game. Their most recent contest was a 99-91 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Friday night. The Heat got 28 points from Josh Richardson but no more than 12 from any other player. They were outscored 32-16 in the second quarter. The team isn’t finding many answers this season.
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers suspect defence reared its ugly head once again on Saturday night when they lost at Orlando. They allowed 100 points in three quarters and were trailing by 19 by the start of the final frame. Orlando shot 53.8 percent from the field and hit 11 three-pointers (34.4 percent). Orlando had six players scoring in double figures, including Nikola Vucevic, who scored a season-high 36. The Lakers could have issues with the Heat inside as they have a capable big man in Hassan Whiteside.
The good news for the Lakers is that the Heat are struggling. They are just 6-9 on the season have dropped seven of their last 10. Home-court advantage might not be much of one as the Heat have lost three straight at home.
Miami Heat
The Heat simply did not shoot well against Indiana on Friday, losing by eight points and failing to cover the spread. They shot 38 percent from the field and earned only 10 free throws, a sign of an inability to attack the basket and put pressure on the defence, forcing it to commit fouls to deny easy layups. They aren’t getting enough of that kind of production on offence and weren’t as suffocating on defence as the Pacers were.
The Heat weren’t terrible on defence – they limited the Pacers to 44 percent field goal shooting and just 15 free throw attempts. That should be good enough to win most games, as should an effort in which Miami allowed just 99 points. The team normally give up 110.5 points per game, so this defensive performance was really solid.
However, Miam – which scores an average of 110.1 points per game – posted just 91 points. No second cog could support Richardson’s 28 points.
