NBA Live Betting: Friday’s Pacers-Heat Game as Big as They Get: NBA Betting
by Bovada Sportsbook Staff | April 10, 2014
There’s now less than two weeks remaining in the NBA’s regular season and there’s no doubting which game stands out as the most important on the schedule: Indiana at Miami on Friday. It will be shown nationally on NBA TV and there will be Live Betting at Bovada.
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It might be fair to say the winner of the game will win the Eastern Conference title. Entering this week, the Heat hold a one-game lead over the Pacers for the East’s top seed. The clubs each have 53 wins but Miami has two fewer losses.
The Pacers held the top spot much of the season but haven’t been the same team since the All-Star Break. Sunday’s shocking 19-point home loss to a mediocre-at-best Atlanta Hawks team – in which the Pacers were held to 23 first-half points – could really come back to bite Indiana.
The Pacers are only 7-12 in their past 19 games overall. One of those seven wins was March 26 in Indianapolis against the Heat, 84-83. The Pacers rallied from a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter and the victory gave them a three-game lead over Miami for the East’s No. 1 seed.
The teams don’t like each other and that game was very physical. LeBron James, who finished with 38 points, took a shot to the nose and had to use a cotton swab to stay in the game. Indiana center Roy Hibbert was elbowed violently in the face and could barely stand for a bit. He didn’t even remember the play afterward.
That victory gave Indiana a 2-1 series lead so should they win Friday, the Pacers would clinch a possible head-to-head tiebreaker for home-court advantage if the teams finish tied.
Getting the home court in a series against Miami is something Indiana has been targeting all season. The Pacers have the league’s best home record at 34-6 and haven’t lost at home to Miami in the regular season since 2012. The Heat are nearly as strong at home with a 31-7 overall record there. They of course won two Game 7s on their home court in last year’s playoffs: against the Pacers and San Antonio Spurs.
Miami remains the NBA title favorite at Bovada at 2/1. The Spurs, who are going to finish with the best regular-season record, have now jumped into the second-favorites at +300. Oklahoma City has also passed the Pacers and is up to +400 with Indiana at +800. The Thunder and Pacers play Sunday, also a game that will have Live Betting at Bovada. Indiana was blown out in Oklahoma City 118-94 on December 8.
One thing for bettors to keep an eye on in the season’s final few games is which teams have the motivation to play for something and which don’t. For example, the Spurs have little reason to play their veteran star trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili much down the stretch with the West’s top seed all but wrapped up. The Thunder are likely to severely limit the minutes of Russell Westbrook, who already sits out one game of a back-to-back. Miami has been resting Dwayne Wade for the playoffs and will continue to. The Heat would no doubt like to give LeBron a game off if possible as well once they are locked into a playoff seed.
Teams’ decisions on which players to rest makes betting on the NBA very unpredictable this time year. However, if you can project when the stars will sit before that information is made public you can profit from it.
