Eastern Conference Finals Betting Preview |
The Chicago Bulls and the Miami Heat will now take their collective talent to South Beach this Sunday night for Game 3 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals matchup with series tied at one game apiece. Game time from the American Airlines Arena is set for 8:30 p.m. (ET) and it will be broadcast nationally on TNT.
Chicago rolled to a 103-82 romp in Game 1 as a 2 ½-point home favorite and had a chance to go up 2-0 in the series, but a late 12-2 run by Miami led to a 95-85 loss that evened the series at 1-1. The Bulls came into Wednesday night’s game as once again a 2 ½-point home favorite but the loss dropped them to 7-6 against the spread in the playoffs overall. Heading into Miami, they and are 3-2 ATS on the road.
As Derrick Rose goes so does Chicago’s chances go not only in this game, but in this series. He put up 28 points and shot 45.5 percent from the field in Game 1, but was a dreadful 7-for-23 from the field on Wednesday night. The Bulls also need to get Carlos Boozer more involved as he played a total of 27 minutes in Game 2 and scored just seven points.
Miami’s success in Game 2 centered on its ability to score some easy points underneath and control the boards. The Heat outscored Chicago 50-34 in the paint and had a 35-24 edge in defensive rebounds. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined for just 33 points in Game 1, but exploded for 53 on Wednesday led by James’ game-high 29 points.
The Heat’s win snapped a four-game losing streak to Chicago this season. They lost all three regular season games straight-up and were 0-2-1 ATS. Miami is now 6-6 ATS overall this postseason. The good news for this game is that it is 6-0 straight-up and 4-2 ATS at home. The total has gone ‘over’ in seven of its 12 games and is split in this series at 1-1.
This game will come down to a battle of wills as both teams have shown they know how to beat one another, but in front of the home-town crowd on Sunday night in Miami look for LeBron and D Wade to take over down the stretch to gain the 2-1 edge in the series.
