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Carrie Stroup here with your Pacers Heat line, which had Miami as a -6.5 favorite. You can find all the latest NBA Playoffs at Sportsbook. Qualified customers receive up to $250 in FREE CASH.
Sportsbook.ag Line & Total: Miami -6.5 & 180.5
Opening Line & Total: Heat -7 & 180
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade both put on quite a show to tie up the Heat-Pacers series on Sunday, and now the teams play a crucial Game 5 back in Miami on Tuesday night.
James scored 40 points (14-of-27 FG, 12-of-16 FT) with 18 rebounds and nine assists in the 101-93 road win in Game 4, while Wade bounced back from an awful Game 3 (5 points on 2-of-13 FG) to tally 30 points, nine rebounds, six assists and zero turnovers on Sunday. Miami did great work inside, outrebounding the Pacers 47-38 and outscoring them 50-32 in the paint. Much of that had to do with Indiana’s two most valuable interior players, C Roy Hibbert and PF David West limited to a combined 60 minutes due to five personal fouls each. The Pacers shot just 41.8% FG (7-of-22 threes), while the Heat made 47.5% FG and 5-of-12 threes. Miami is 8-2 SU (6-4 ATS) in the past 10 home meetings with Indiana, and is 23-15 ATS (61%) when favored between 5 and 7 points in two seasons with LeBron James. In this same two-year timeframe, the Pacers are 5-15 ATS when playing a team carrying a win percentage of 60% to 70%.
This series remains low-scoring with Indiana averaging just 87.8 PPG (40.8% FG) and Miami posting only 86.5 PPG on 40.1% FG, including 18.5% from three-point land. The Heat are happy to return home where they are 32-6 (21-16-1 ATS) this season, outscoring these visitors by 11.1 PPG (99.8 to 88.7). The Pacers have the league’s fourth-best road record at 22-15 (60%), but are just 19-18 ATS at home. Indiana has been strong with just one day’s rest this season (27-11, 19-19 ATS), which is slightly better than the Heat in this scenario (28-13, 19-22 ATS).
SF Danny Granger has put together two strong games in a row (18.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 3.5 APG), but he was terrible in Miami during this series, scoring just 9.0 PPG on 6-of-24 FG in Games 1-2. C Roy Hibbert was the main reason the Pacers won Game 3, scoring 19 points with 18 boards, but he wasn’t a huge factor on Sunday with 10 points and a series-low nine rebounds. PF David West also saw his production tail off in a big way with just eight points and six rebounds in Game 4. In the first three games of the series, West had 15.7 PPG and 10.3 RPG. G Paul George had a well-rounded Game 4, filling the stat sheet with 13 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals. But his backcourt mate, G George Hill, failed to hit double-figures for the first time in nine playoff games on Sunday, scoring just eight points on 2-of-9 FG. Reserve PG Darren Collison had his best scoring game of the series with 16 points on 6-of-7 FG and 4-of-6 FT, but had only one assist and two turnovers. Collison, who averaged a team-best 4.8 APG during the regular season, has a total of one assist and four turnovers in his past three games combined.
LeBron James has had an unbelievable series with 30.5 PPG (47.4% FG), 12.3 RPG, 5.5 APG and 3.0 SPG. These scoring numbers would be even higher if he wasn’t shooting just 69% from the line and 1-for-11 from three-point range. Despite Wade’s huge performance on the road in Game 4, he has posted better numbers at home in the playoffs (23.2 PPG, +41 rating) than on the road (19.3 PPG, +5 rating). PG Mario Chalmers struggled in the two home games this series with just 4.5 PPG on 2-of-13 FG, but has pumped in 16.5 PPG (54.2% FG), 4.5 RPG and 4.0 APG in the past two contests. PF Udonis Haslem had just six points and a minus-19 rating in Games 1-3, but he shined on Sunday with 14 points (5-of-6 FG, 4-of-4 FT), four rebounds and a +15 rating.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
