CHICAGO (50 - 40) at MIAMI (70 - 17) - 5/8/2013, 7:00 PM
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.
Head-to-Head Series History
CHICAGO is 9-7 against the spread versus MIAMI over the last 3 seasons
CHICAGO is 9-8 straight up against MIAMI over the last 3 seasons
10 of 17 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons
GOLDEN STATE (51 - 38) at SAN ANTONIO (63 - 24) - 5/8/2013, 9:30 PM
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.
Head-to-Head Series History
SAN ANTONIO is 7-5 against the spread versus GOLDEN STATE over the last 3 seasons
SAN ANTONIO is 10-2 straight up against GOLDEN STATE over the last 3 seasons
7 of 12 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons
CHICAGO vs. MIAMI
Chicago is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Chicago's last 5 games when playing on the road against Miami
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Miami's last 5 games when playing at home against Chicago
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Miami's last 5 games
GOLDEN STATE vs. SAN ANTONIO
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Golden State's last 6 games when playing on the road against San Antonio
Golden State is 6-12-2 ATS in its last 20 games when playing San Antonio
San Antonio is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Golden State
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of San Antonio's last 6 games when playing at home against Golden State
Wednesday's NBA Playoff Action: What Bettors Need to Know
By Covers.com
Chicago Bulls at Miami Heat (-12, 187)
Chicago leads series 1-0.
The Chicago Bulls notched a stunning victory in the opener and the Miami Heat seek to bounce back and even the Eastern Conference semifinal series when the teams meet in Wednesday’s Game 2 in South Beach. Chicago scored the final 10 points to close out a 93-86 victory in Game 1 despite again being without starters Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich. Miami was certainly rusty due to a long layoff from sweeping Milwaukee in the first round.
The Heat were out-of-synch much of the game and their defense was horrid in the final quarter when the Bulls scored 35 points. The loss was just the third in the last 44 games for Miami. “We haven’t lost in a while, so it was very different to come in and deal with a loss and to deal with it in the playoffs at home,” guard Dwyane Wade said on Tuesday. “It was different from the standpoint of what we’ve been used to lately, but not anything different from what we’ve been used to as a team.” Chicago will likely be without Deng (illness) for the fourth straight game, and Hinrich (calf) is in jeopardy of missing his fifth in a row. The Bulls now go for an unlikely 2-0 lead. “We’ve been getting some big victories the last couple games, but we’re not satisfied,” Chicago center Joakim Noah said. “We’re going to stay hungry, make our adjustments and try to play even better.”
ABOUT THE BULLS: Noah had 13 points and 11 rebounds in the opener for his third straight double-double and fourth in five games. He was plagued by a foot injury late in the regular season and for most of the first-round series against the Brooklyn Nets but has appeared very spry over the last few games. His stellar Game 1 effort helped Chicago post a 46-32 advantage on the boards. “The team that wins the rebounding battle has a big advantage,” Noah said. “If you look at the numbers the last 10 to 15 times we’ve played the Heat, the team that wins the rebounding battle usually comes out with a ‘W.’” Small forward Jimmy Butler had 21 points and 14 rebounds while playing all 48 minutes for the third straight game.
ABOUT THE HEAT: MVP LeBron James with 24 points and Wade (14) were the only Miami players to reach double digits in the opener. James had just two first-half points before exploding for 22 in the second while Wade wasn’t at his best as he continues to deal with a bruised right knee. Center Chris Bosh had just nine points and hasn’t scored more than 16 in the postseason. Miami shot just 39.7 percent from the field and doesn’t expect a second straight subpar shooting performance. “It’s about will and determination to win the series, for both teams,” James said. “We want our shooters to shoot and they will continue to shoot because we will continue to find them. We’ve got the utmost confidence in them.”
TRENDS:
* Under is 4-1 in the last five meetings in Miami.
* Under is 5-2 in the last seven meetings.
* Heat are 9-15 ATS as double-digit favorites this season.
* Heat are 6-0 ATS in their last six games following a loss.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Chicago PG Nate Robinson had 27 points and nine assists and hit the go-ahead jumper with 1:18 left in Game 1.
2. F Udonis Haslem (four points, three rebounds in 18 minutes) and G Mario Chalmers (five points on 1-of-5 shooting) had poor Game 1 showings for Miami.
3. The Bulls haven’t won three straight road games since mid-January. Chicago won the first-round finale in Brooklyn before winning Game 1 in Miami.
Golden State Warriors at San Antonio Spurs (-7.5, 204)
San Antonio leads series 1-0.
The Golden State Warriors have developed a disturbing habit of letting big leads slip away in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. The San Antonio Spurs will try to avoid that big fourth-quarter hole and grab a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals when they host the Warriors on Wednesday. Golden State led by 16 points with under four minutes left in Game 1 only to have the Spurs storm back and eventually win in double overtime.
Manu Ginobili played both the hero and the goat in Game 1 after his ill-advised 3-pointer late in the second overtime led to a layup before Golden State took the lead with 3.9 seconds left. Ginobili made up for that gaffe by draining the game-winning 3-pointer two possessions later. Warriors star Stephen Curry piled up 44 points and 11 assists but fell off in the final minutes and overtime while playing all but four seconds of the 58-minute contest. Golden State has lost 30 games in a row in San Antonio and had everything lining up when Tim Duncan went to the bench with an illness late in the fourth quarter before the Spurs came alive.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS: Curry scored 22 points in the third quarter and Golden State led by as many as 18 points late in that period. Curry brought out his entire bag of tricks in Game 1 with 3-pointers, floaters in the lane, slashes to the basket and no-look passes with both hands. In the end its was not enough, as the Spurs changed the defensive assignment on Curry to Kawhi Leonard, and even had wide-bodied center Boris Diaw blocking his drives in overtime. The key to the game might have been Klay Thompson, who scored 19 points and played tough defense on San Antonio point guard Tony Parker before fouling out as the Spurs began their late run in the fourth. The Warriors nearly squandered a big lead in the fourth quarter of Game 6 against the Denver Nuggets in the first round before pulling it out. A slew of turnovers and a general lack of offensive execution was the problem both times. “You’ve got to address it,” Curry said. “That should be a guaranteed win if you take care of what you need to take care of. At some point it’s something we’re doing wrong that allows them that momentum and the opportunity to make it a game.”
ABOUT THE SPURS: Ginobili struggled to 5-of-20 from the field in Game 1 but came through when it mattered with a 3-pointer from the right wing off an inbounds pass with 1.2 seconds left. Parker started the rally in the fourth quarter with six straight points as San Antonio closed the frame with an 18-2 burst. Duncan heading to the bench late in the fourth forced the Spurs to go to a smaller lineup with Diaw in the middle, and the big man knocked down a couple of key shots from the perimeter in the final minutes. Duncan collected 19 points and 11 boards but went to the locker room when the Spurs were down big. He returned to the bench for overtime but only entered the game for defensive purposes in the final seconds of each overtime. “From the fourth quarter on we looked like a team that realized we were in the playoffs and it was going to be physical,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich told reporters. “We looked like we were looking for answers, I thought. In the end we finally woke up.”
TRENDS:
* Warriors are 4-1-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings.
* Favorite is 18-6-2 ATS in the last 26 meetings.
* Warriors are 5-14 ATS in the last 19 meetings in San Antonio.
* Spurs are 3-8 ATS in their last 11 home games.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Dominique Wilkins led the Spurs with 22 points off the bench the last time San Antonio lost at home to the Warriors, Feb. 14, 1997.
2. The three previous teams to blow a 16-point fourth-quarter lead in a playoff game over the last 15 seasons all went on to win the next game.
3. Golden State struggled to 14-for-24 from the free-throw line in Game 1.
2013 NBA Playoffs
Lay 12 points to the gritty, banged-up Bulls at your own risk after this well-coached team won consecutive road games as Brooklyn/Miami in a 48-hour span. Butler played all 48:00 Monday; he is averaging over 39 minutes a game in playoffs, after averaging 26.3 in regular season. Bulls are now 3-2 vs Miami this season, going 2-1 here. Heat shot 50.7/51.4% in two games they won, 46.2/48.1/39.7% in three losses. Miami won 12 of its last 13 games overall; they're 5-4 vs spread last nine games they were home favorite. Over is 9-5 in Chicago's last fourteen games.
Steph Curry played all 58:00 in draining loss Monday loss, has to be a tough thing to bounce back 48 hours later; Warriors have now lost 30 in a row in San Antonio, losing by 7-11-2 in this year's visits. Warriors are now 10-0 vs spread in last ten games overall; over is 4-3 in their playoff games. Spurs are now 5-0 in playoffs, with four wins by double digits; Duncan was ill Monday night and missed most of second half, so he is not full strength here. Home team won all five series meetings this year. Klay Thompson was +14 Monday night but fouled out and that hurt.
Armadillosports.com
NBA: Streaks, Tips, Notes
Sportspic.com
Golden State Warriors at San Antonio Spurs
Spurs showed early rust from it's long layoff needing a Ginobili 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left in the second overtime to squeak past Warriors 129-127 in the opener of this Western Conference Semifinals. Although San Antonio fell far short of the 9-point spot giving Warriors backers it's seventh consecutive cover during these playoffs the Spurs remain a profitable 10-5-1 ATS their last sixteen listed as home favorite of 6.5 to 9 points. San Antonio completely dominating the Golden State franchise winning 48-of-56 (36-19-1) matchups including twenty-eight straight (19-9 ATS) in Alamo City look primed take a 2-0 series lead. Spurs known for tightening defensive screws after allowing a boat load of points (=> 120) are 8-2 SU, 8-1-1 ATS in the spot surrendering 90.9 PPG including 5-0 SU/ATS on home court allowing visitors just 86.4 per/contest.
Wednesday Playoff Tips
By Kevin Rogers
VegasInsider.com
The underdogs have been rolling through the second round of the playoffs, covering all four opportunities through Monday. Both Miami and San Antonio failed to cash following long layoffs in each of their conference semifinal openers, but the Spurs managed to pull off one of the great comeback of all-time. We'll start in South Florida as the defending champions look to even up their series at one with their feisty rival.
Bulls at Heat (-12, 187)
Chicago continues to shock the world despite injuries to several key players as the Bulls tripped up the Heat, 93-86 to win outright as 13-point underdogs (+900 on money-line). Nate Robinson proved to be clutch once again in the absence of Derrick Rose, as the diminutive guard scored two crucial baskets in the final two minutes to give Chicago the lead for good. Heading into Game 2, are the Heat ready to shake off the rust or is this a sign of things to come?
Miami sat on the sidelines for seven days after sweeping Milwaukee in the opening round, while Chicago needed to fight for its playoff lives in a seven-game series victory over Brooklyn. Regular season MVP LeBron James scored a team-high 24 points, but the Heat was outscored by 15 points when he was on the court in Game 1. The keys to Chicago's success (besides holding Miami to 39% shooting) came from Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson, who combined to score 34 points. Past James and Dwyane Wade, not one other Heat player registered double-figures in the points column.
The Heat opened up as a gigantic -2500 favorite to win the series, but that number has plummeted to -900 after the Game 1 defeat. Since the Big Three teamed up in 2010, Miami has lost the opening game of a playoff series twice, but each time, won the next four games (Chicago in '11 E.C. Finals and Oklahoma City in '12 NBA Finals). Erik Spoelstra's squad has covered five straight games off an ATS loss, while posting a 14-5 ATS record the last 19 games overall.
The Bulls will be without Luol Deng (illness) and Kirk Hinrich (calf) for Game 2, but hope to have at least one of those players return for Game 3 on Friday. Chicago has won five of its last six games off a road victory, while compiling a 4-2 ATS record the previous six road playoff contests.
Warriors at Spurs (-7½, 204½)
San Antonio was on the verge of being the second huge home favorite to get upset on Monday night. However, the Spurs didn't quit after falling behind by 16 points with four minutes remaining in regulation, pulling off an improbable 18-2 run to force overtime. Gregg Popovich's team needed two overtimes and a miracle from Manu Ginobili, as the battle-tested veteran drilled a three-pointer to give the Spurs a 129-127 triumph and a 1-0 series edge.
The Warriors managed a cover as nine-point underdogs, their seventh straight ATS win in the playoffs. Stephen Curry continues to prove he is an elite scorer in this league with a 44-point output in the series opener, while Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes each put up 19 points in the loss. Free-throw shooting turned into a problem for Golden State, converting just 14-of-24 attempts from the line. Ginobili hit just 1-of-8 from downtown prior to his game-winner, while the long-distance hero for the Spurs was Danny Green, who drilled 6-of-9 from three-point land.
Amazingly, the Warriors haven't won in San Antonio since 1997, a stretch of 30 consecutive defeats on the road. If Mark Jackson's club can pull off a win tonight, Games 3 and 4 are back at Oracle Arena, where the Warriors are 3-0 this postseason, while beating the Spurs twice at home.
Golden State's ATS hot streak stretches back to April 12, a run of 10 straight covers which began in a close road loss to the Lakers (yes, the Kobe Bryant Achilles' injury game). The last time the Warriors failed to cash as an away 'dog came on March 20, and you guessed it, it was at San Antonio. The Spurs suffered their first postseason ATS loss on Monday after cashing in all four games against the Lakers, while posting a 4-11 ATS record the last 15 contests at the AT&T Center.