Miami Heat vs. Los Angeles Clippers - 11/7/13
Los Angeles Clippers (3-2) at Miami Heat (3-2)
NBA Basketball: Thursday, November 7, 2013 at 7:00 pm (AmericanAirlines Arena)
The Line: Miami Heat -5 -- Over/Under: 210 See the Latest Odds
TV:
Chris Bosh returns for the Miami Heat as they play host to the Los Angeles Clippers tonight.
The Clippers were on an absolute tear, winning three straight and averaging a league leading 119.0 points per game before flat on their face against the upbeat Magic at Orlando last night. Chris continued his strong form with 18 points and 10 assists, while Blake Griffin led the scoring with 23 points and 13 rebounds, but the rest of the team shot just 18 of 56 (32.1 percent) from the field. As bad as that sounds, the real problems were actually on the defensive end where the Clippers allowed too many layups to the Magic, including 30 points to Nikola Vucevic who was able to wreak havoc in the paint. Tonight against the Heat, the Clippers won't have to worry about a quality center in the paint, but if their defense doesn't improve overnight, it could be an absolute shootout.
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Meanwhile, the Heat have bounced back from consecutive losses with back to back wins over the Wizards and the Raptors. On Tesday against the Raptors, LeBron James flirted with a triple double, pouring in 35 points, eight rebounds and eight assists while Dwyane Wade added 20 points as the Heat won by 104-95 without Chris Bosh who was attending the birth of his second child. Bosh is expected to return for this game which is great news for a Heat team which seems to be firing on all cylinders at the moment.
In ATS trends, the Clippers are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games overall and 1-6 ATS in their last seven road games, while the Heat are 2-9 ATS in their last 11 games following a win and 0-7 ATS in their last seven games following an ATS cover.
Head to head, the Heat have won four straight at home against the Clippers by an average of 18.8 points and have covered the spread in their last five meetings.
As good as the Clippers have been playing so far, last night showed that they really struggle to defend when their offense isn't producing rolling. Playing a second night of a back to back set doesn't help either, so I'm sticking with the defending champs at home to win and cover here.
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