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The Portland Trail Blazers put their eight-game home winning streak on the line when they entertain the Miami Heat in an interconference battle on Tuesday night.
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A recent spurt of six wins in seven games overall has the Blazers right behind the leaders in the Western Conference and any hope of catching those clubs relies on their ability to take care of teams that are below .500, a category the Heat fall into. The Blazers have done well so far this season sporting a 16-5 mark against teams below the breakeven point.
Miami Heat at Portland Trail Blazers
Date and Time: Tuesday, February 5, 2019, 10:30 p.m. ET
Location: Moda Center, Portland, OR
Opening NBA Odds: Blazers -8, O/U 213
Heat at Trail Blazers TV Coverage: TNT
Odds Analysis
The Heat currently hold down the eighth-seed in the Eastern Conference, but they aren’t making things easy on themselves with three consecutive losses entering the first of a six-game road swing. The first five go through the West and include matchups with the top teams in the conference with Golden State and Denver on the slate. The trip concludes after the All-Star break with a tilt against the Sixers.
Miami is one of two current playoff teams with a negative scoring margin and the Heat have the worst mark of the 16 clubs at minus-0.6. Any momentum build prior to the trip was extinguished when the Heat lost their last three games, all at home, while failing to cover in any of them. The worst was a 16-point margin against the Bulls while playing as a 10.5-point favorite.
The Blazers are on a nice run as they look to track down the teams ahead of them in the West. Winners of three straight and six of their last seven, the Blazers can sniff the top spot. But they are also holding on to the fourth-seed by the slimmest of margins and can ill afford to drop a game against a sub-.500 team at home. The homecourt advantage in Portland is dangerous and the Blazers have again taken care of business in their barn with 22 victories tied for the second-most in the Association.
Heat
Considering the injuries the Heat have endured this season, it’s quite remarkable they are among the top-eight in the East. They have a slight cushion over the rest of the pack and this trip, along with better health, will go a long way toward determining where they fall in the hierarchy. After enjoying some success last season with a postseason trip, the starting backcourt was expected to supply the needed scoring punch to push the Heat forward.
However, Goran Dragic and Dion Waiters have seen sparse action as they continue to mend from injuries. Dragic has played in just 14 games and isn’t expected back until after the All-Star break. Waiters is back after ankle surgery last year and has played in 13 games. He also voiced his displeasure over his playing time and usage recently, a distraction the team doesn’t need right now. Miami scored just 11 points in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 95-88 loss to Indiana, failing to score 100 points for the eighth time in their past 14 outings.
Trail Blazers
The backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum was at it again in Portland’s 132-105 drubbing of Utah last Wednesday. Lillard went for 36 points and 11 assists, and fell two rebounds shy of his first career triple-double. McCollum added 30 points with 20 of them coming in the first quarter when he was perfect from the field. The two combined to go 24 of 38 from the field and 6 of 12 from three-point range.
The Blazers needed all that production with Jusuf Nurkic sidelined. The big man is questionable to play on Tuesday due to a sore knee and that will leave plenty of space in the paint for Miami’s Hassan Whiteside to operate. The Blazers had plenty of time to heal from their wounds and devise a game plan since they haven’t played in nearly a week, a rarity for NBA teams at this point in the schedule.
Bet Heat at Trail Blazers at BookMaker.eu
Without two of their top scorers from a season ago, the Heat have slowed things down considerably by NBA standards. Their success comes when playing strong defense and limiting opponents on the scoreboard. When that fails they just don’t have the firepower to keep up, and we’ve seen it happen over the last few weeks. With a lengthy amount of time off I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Blazers stumble out of the block, so look to the under on their first quarter scoring total on the live betting lines at BookMaker.eu. Once they get rolling though, look out for Dame and C.J. to light it up as the Blazers pull away late for the home cover.
NBA Score Prediction: Blazers 108, Heat 97
