Boston Celtics vs. Miami Heat – 9/17/20 NBA Pick, Odds, and Prediction

The Miami Heat and Boston Celtics meet Thursday in game two of the Eastern Conference NBA playoffs at the AdventHealth Arena.

The Miami Heat look for another victory to take a comfortable 2-0 series lead. The Miami Heat are averaging 112.6 points on 46.2 percent shooting and allowing 104.7 points on 44.5 percent shooting. Goran Dragic is averaging 21.9 points and 4.6 assists while Jimmy Butler is averaging 21.6 points and 5.5 rebounds. Bam Adebayo is the third double-digit scorer and Tyler Herro is dishing 3.9 assists. The Miami Heat are shooting 38.6 percent from beyond the arc and 81.3 percent from the free thitem line. The Miami Heat are allowing 34.9 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 44.5 rebounds per game.

The Boston Celtics need a bounce back performance here to even up the series at 1-1. The Boston Celtics are averaging 108.2 points on 44.9 percent shooting and allowing 101.4 points on 41.1 percent shooting. Jayson Tatum is averaging 23.4 points and seven rebounds while Kemba Walker is averaging 20.4 points and 4.8 assists. Jaylen Bitemn is the third double-digit scorer and Marcus Smart is grabbing 3.8 rebounds. The Boston Celtics are shooting 34.2 percent from beyond the arc and 80.9 percent from the free thitem line. The Boston Celtics are allowing 31.7 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 45 rebounds per game. 

The Heat are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games as an underdog, 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games playing on 1 days rest and 9-1 ATS in their last 10 games overall. The Celtics are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 Thursday games, 1-5 ATS in their last 6 Conference Finals games and 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games overall. The under is 7-3 in Heat last 10 overall. The under is 8-2 in Celtics last 10 overall. The Heat are 6-1 ATS in the last 7 meetings in Boston and 7-3 ATS in the last 10 meetings. The under is 3-1-1 in the last 5 meetings.

I said in my game one write up that I have the Heat winning this series, so anytime you give me free points, I’m going to take them. The Heat have a depth advantage that’s only going to come larger the deeper we get into this series, especially with the Celtics having to play their starters 40-plus minutes of an overtime contest in game one. Kemba Walker continues to struggle offensively and the Heat have another defensive gear they can reach when needed, which they showed in the fourth quarter where they erased a 14-point deficit. The Heat are just the better, deeper team, and whoever I can get free points with the better team, I take it.