Now that baseball season is over I’m going to switch over to predicting 2 NBA games per week. Here is my 1st attempt.
Miami Heat (3-1) @ Charlotte Hornets (1-3)
The Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets tip off this evening in NBA action. The Heat suffered their first loss of the season last night as they were defeated at home 108-91 versus Houston. Power forward Chris Bosh led the team in scoring with 21 points on 8 of 14 shooting in 30 minutes. He also grabbed 8 rebounds. Shooting guard Dwyane Wade netted 19 points on 7 of 11 shooting in 31 minutes. The team was out-scored 25-14 in the 4th quarter. They only scored 36 points in the 2nd half. The Heat shot 41.9% from the field, 42.9% from the 3 point line (12-28), and 63% from the free throw line (17-27). Through 4 games Bosh is leading the team in scoring with 24.5 points per game and in rebounding with 10.5 rebounds per game. Wade is leading the team with 5.8 assists per game. Miami is 6th in the league in points per game with 104.8 and 19th in the league in points allowed per game with 100.3. They are 1-0 on the road this season. Tonight is the 2nd game of a back to back. Last season the Heat were 10-6 in the 2nd game. The Hornets dropped their 3rd straight as they were downed 100-91 at New Orleans last night. Backup shooting guard Gary Neal led the team in scoring with 21 points on 9 of 15 shooting in 27 minutes. He also had 6 rebounds. Center Al Jefferson chipped in with 20 points on 8 of 17 shooting in 32 minutes. He also grabbed 5 boards. The Hornets were out-scored in 3 of the 4 quarters. The team shot 46.3% from the field, 28.6% from the 3 point line (6-21), and 84.6% from the free throw line (11-13). In their 3 losses the Hornets failed to score more than 93 points in a game. In their lone win they scored 108. They’ve held 2 of the 4 opponents they’ve played to under 100 points. Through 4 games Al Jefferson is leading the team in scoring with 18.5 points per game. Lance Stephenson is leading the team with 9.3 rebounds per game and is also leading the team with 6.0 assists per game. Charlotte is tied for 27th in the league in points per game with 90.3 and 5th in the league in points allowed per game with 93.3. They are 1-1 at home this season. Tonight is the 2nd game of a back to back. Last season the Hornets were 7-15 in the 2nd game.
Last season Miami was 4-0 versus Charlotte. They also swept them 4-0 in the their best of 7 series in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. The Heat have won the last 16 regular season meetings between the 2 teams dating back to the 2009-2010 season.
Heat vs Hornets Prediction
If the Heat would have won last night I would be thinking of picking the Hornets in this one but I’ve liked the way Bosh has asserted himself as the go-to-guy and I think the Heat will continue their dominance of Charlotte.
Take the Heat +1.5
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