NBA Finals Game 5 Prediction
(The Spread) – After the Mavericks tied things up on Tuesday we have a brand new NBA Finals series. Can the Heat respond with a win in Game 5 tonight?
Thanks to another strong effort by Dirk Nowtizki, the Mavericks evened this best of seven series with an 86-83 victory on Tuesday night. Dirk scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Shawn Marion chipped in 13 points and 16 boards. LeBron James struggled offensively on the night, shooting just 3-of-11 in the field and finishing with just eight points and nine boards.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Bodog currently list the host Mavericks as 1.5-point favorites over the visiting Heat in Game 5 tonight at 9:00PM ET. The over/under total for this game is currently listed at 184.5 points.
Of the 5,700-plus wagers on tonight’s game, 58% of NBA public bettors favor the Heat +1.5. It’ll be interesting to see if the line drops again after Dallas opened as 2-point favorite. (And at some books, the Mavs have already dropped to –1.)
NBA Finals Free Pick: Take the Heat. I think just like in games 1 and 3, we’re going to see Miami’s best effort on both sides of the glass tonight. They don’t want to head back to Miami facing elimination and if they can scrounge up enough offense tonight, they should put themselves in position to close out this series in six games. According to latest NBA trends, the Heat are 6-1-1 against the spread in their last eight trips to Dallas, while the road team is 21-8-2 against the number in the last 31 meetings between these two teams. I like the Heat to win outright.
2011 NBA FINALS GAME 5 FREE PICK: MIAMI HEAT +1.5
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