Heat vs Pacers Online Betting Odds
The Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat will open the Eastern Conference Finals at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon. [ad-4468020]
Eastern Conference Finals Game 1
Miami Heat (8-1) at Indiana Pacers (8-5)
Date: Sunday, May 18, 2014
Time: 3:30 PM ET
Venue: Bankers Life Fieldhouse
City: Indianapolis, Indiana
O/U Odds: 181
Spread: Miami -2.5
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The two sides have taken very different paths to the conference finals, with the Heat brushing off the Bobcats and Nets, while the top-seeded Pacers needed seven games to get past the Hawks, then let the Wizards bring them to a sixth game.
The Pacers said before the season that they wanted home court advantage for this very season, and they’ve got it. The problem is, they played so well during the regular season that they coasted through the final two months of the season, and have had a tough time re-lighting their competitive fire.
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The most recent postseason meeting between these teams came in last season’s Eastern Conference Finals, a series which the Heat won in Game 7 with a decisive 99-76 victory in South Beach. LeBron James averaged 29.0 points per game in that series, and is coming off a conference semifinal series in which he averaged 30.0 points on 57.0 shooting against the Brooklyn Nets.
Pacers center Roy Hibbert will play a big role in deciding whether the Pacers can compete in this series.
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He has had plenty of trouble re-finding his strong form from a year ago in these playoffs, though he did pick up his play in the latter stages of the Wizards series, averaging 14.8 points in the final five games of that one, after averaging just 4.6 points per game in the first eight games of this postseason.
The Heat are just playing at a whole different level than the Pacers right now. Indiana was able to step up their game and down the Wizards, but Miami presents an entirely different test, and the Pacers could be in for a rude awakening in this one. After the Hawks and Wizards each took the series opener from the Pacers on their home court, there is little reason to believe the Heat won’t do the same.
Additionally, the total in this game is set as if the Pacers were playing the kind of defense we’re used to seeing from them. The reality is, they haven’t shown anything that would lead us to believe they can stop the Heat’s offensive attack, and as we saw during the regular year, when the Heat score points in this series, overs follow.
The Pacers are 17-37-1 ATS in their last 55 games overall, while the Heat are 4-0 ATS in their last four games played on three or more days rest.
The over is 5-1 in the Heat’s last six games overall, and it is 7-1 in the Heat’s last eight games played on three or more days rest.
The play: Miami -2.5, Over 181
