Enviado: 20 de Enero de 2015, 18:24
Heat vs Thunder
Miami has been struggling really all season long. With most of their players missing games with injuries, they are yet to find any kind of rhythm and put together meaningful streak of games where they would play great basketball. One thing that the Heat organisation still has is the brain trust and coaching staff that knows exactly what they have to do to have a chance in every single game. Against the teams like the Thunder the plan is really simple. If the Heat can make it a half-court affair and keep the possessions limited, they will have an outside chance to win, if they will allow the Thunder to start running, the game is as good as lost.
The Heat know that they are not likely to score 100 points. Being a jump-shooting team, with lot of one-on-one offense from Wade and stare down jump shots from Bosh, they are likely to score close to 90 points at best. This is why their strategy over recent weeks has been slowing the tempo of the games. It has led to underish games, even against opponents that are normaly scoring many points (GSW 89-104, LAL 78-75, LAC 104-90). In fact no Heat games in 2015 have gone over 200 points.
The Thunder have had some massive scoring explotions as of late, but they have shot the ball with extremely high percentage thanks to the lack of defense from their opponents (53% vs GSW and 58% vs ORL). This is something that will change tonight as the Heat will slow the tempo, limit the number of possessions played at both sides of the floor. Miami is still solid team defensively, so the Thunder will not have too many easy scoring opportunities and their shooting percentage is likely to drop. We see it as a game ending around 190-195 points in total. Take under 198.5 points @1.925 with 2/5 units from Pinnacle.
GL