Miami Heat vs New Orleans Pelicans NBA Betting Preview & Odds
Interconference hoops and we will see the Miami Heat travel to Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana to take on the New Orleans Pelicans. Local TV will carry this game, which has a start time of 8:00 pm EST.
Current betting odds for this game have the have the Heat listed as 6.5 point favorites, while the total has been set at 206.
Head-To-Head This Year: Miami won the lone matchup between these team by a score of 94-88 in OT as a 4.5 point home favorite back in December.
The Miami Heat come in off a big 122-101 win over Cleveland and they have now gone 8-3 in their last 11 games. Miami is currently 40-29 on the year, including 17-16 on the road and they are tied atop the Southeast Division with the Atlanta Hawks. It really is a three team race in that division as both teams are just a half game ahead of Charlotte. This is a balanced offense that has 7 players who average at least 9.1 ppg and are lead by Chris Bosh (19.1 ppg) and Dwayne Wade (19.0 ppg), while Hassan Whiteside has been huge for them as well as is 4th in the league in rebounding at 11.7 rpg, 3rd in shooting percentage at 60.6 ppg and leads the league in blocks per game at 3.77, while scoring 13.5 ppg. New acquisition Joe Johnson has been solid as he has averaged 15.7 ppg in his 11 games with the team so far. Miami has not been a good offensive team this year as they come in ranked 23rd in the league in scoring, putting up just 99.3 ppg, while also ranking 4th in shooting overall, 25th in 3-point shooting and 22nd from the charity stripe. The defense has really been what has led this team as they come in ranked 4th in points allowed, giving up just 97.9 ppg, while also ranking 9th in defensive FG% overall and 12th in 3-point defense. On the road the Heat have averaged 96.1 ppg on 45.6 shooting, while allowing just 97.7 ppg on 44.3% shooting.
Trends: The Heat are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning % below .400 and 9-4 ATS in their last 13 road games, but just 4-16-1 ATS their last 21 trips to New Orleans and 7-18-1 ATS vs the Southwest.
The New Orleans Pelicans have not had a good year at all as they are 26-43 overall, including just 3-9 in their last 12 games. They have been a decent team at home though, where they are 18-16 so far. This was a team that was supposed to make some noise in the Western Conference, especially with Anthony Davis, who leads the team in scoring at 24.3 ppg (7th in the league), rebounding at 10.7 and blocks at 2.05 bpg (4th in league). He does it all, or should I say did it all as he is now out for the season due to shoulder surgery. Ryan Anderson comes ion average 17.0 ppg, which leads the active players, while Jrue Holiday is next at 16.6 ppg. Erik Gordon (15.2 ppg) and Tyreke Evans (15.2 ppg) have also been lost for the season. This is one beat up team. Overall the Pelicans are 10th in the league in scoring, putting up 103.3 ppg, while also ranking 17th in shooting overall, 12th in 3-point shooting and 12th from the charity stripe. The defense has been very bad this year as they come in ranked 25th in points allowed, giving up 106.4 ppg, while also ranking 26th in defensive FG% overall and 24th in 3-point defense. At home the Pelicans have averaged 106.7 ppg on 46.0 shooting, while allowing just 106.2 ppg on 46.4% shooting.
Trends: The Pelicans are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 home games vs. a team with a winning road record and the home team is 9-2 the last 11 in the series, but the Pelicans are also 10-22 ATS in their last 32 when their opponent scores 100 points or more in their previous game and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 when their opponent allows 100 points or more in their previous game.
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