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Miami Heat (27-25) at Portland Trail Blazers (30-21)
NBA Basketball: Sunday, April 11, 2021 at 10:00 pm (Moda Center at the Rose Quarter)
The Line: Portland Trail Blazers -2 -- Over/Under: 223 Click to Get Latest Betting Odds
The Miami Heat invade the Moda Center to do battle with the Portland Trailblazers on Sunday night.
The Miami Heat have been in great form lately as they’ve won five of their past six games and they will be looking to maintain their momentum after sneaking past the Lakers in a 110-104 home win on Thursday. Jimmy Butler led the team with 28 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Victor Oladipo added 18 points, Tyler Herro scored 15 points off the bench while Bam Adebayo chipped in with 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists. As a team, the Heat shot 47 percent from the field and 10 of 25 from the 3-point line as they struggled to shake off the shorthanded Lakers until late in the fourth quarter where they used a pivotal 9-2 run to escape with the hard-fought win.
Meanwhile, the Portland Trailblazers have been in fine form themselves as they’ve won six of their past nine games and they will be looking to stay hot after making light work of the Pistons in a 118-103 home win on Saturday. Damian Lillard led the team with 27 points and 10 assists, CJ McCollum added 26 points, while Enes Kanter chipped in with 24 points and 30 rebounds. As a team, the Trailblazers shot 47 percent from the field and 13 of 29 from the 3-point line as they set the tone with 33 points in the first quarter to take an early double-digit lead, before pouring in another 36 points in the third quarter to push the margin out to 24 points.
Looking at the betting trends, the Heat are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 road games, 11-5 ATS in their last 16 games playing on two days’ rest and 1-4 ATS in their last five games against a team with a winning record. The Trailblazers are 0-4 ATS in their last four games as an underdog and 0-5 ATS in their last five games against a team with a winning record.
Head to head, the over is 5-1 in the last six meetings overall, the Heat are 1-5 ATS in the last six meetings in Portland and the Heat are 3-7 ATS in the last 10 meetings overall.
We’re in for a good contest as both teams are coming into this game with plenty of momentum. The Heat are still dealing with so many injuries, but they were good enough to grind out a win against the shorthanded Lakers, while the Trailblazers were able to stop a two-game skid with a blowout win over the slumping Pistons. It’s hard to split these two teams at the moment, but the Heat are 1-5 ATS in the last six meetings in Portland and I think that trend continues here as the Trailblazers eek out a narrow win.
Peter’s Pick Portland -2
AUTHOR: Peter Tran
