Miami Heat at Charlotte Bobcats 2011 NBA Preview, Odds, and Predictions: MVP LeBron James will lead the warming up Miami Heat on the road to the Time Warner Cable Arena to take on the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday night at 7:00 PM ET. The Bobcats are coming off a victory and 21-27 4th in the Southeast but 8th in the East looking to solidify a spot in the playoffs while the Heat have won 4 consecutive and at 35-14 are 1st in the Southeast and getting healthy enough to go on another run. The Heat struggled early in the season then went on a sizzling stretch where they won 21 of 22 games before injuries slowed them down. It’s beginning to look like they are getting healthy again and playing together like we all thought they would when the team was put together this past summer.
Charlotte is coming off a 6 game road trip that they completed at 4-2 with a win over the Detroit Pistons where Stephen Jackson scored a season high 39 points. “It’s good to come back 4-2 knowing the tough games we have ahead of us,” said Jackson, averaging 25.3 points in the last six games – 6.5 better than his season average. “Hopefully we can carry it over.” He will need to keep up the pace as the Bobcats have a 3 game home stretch starting tonight with Miami, then Dallas and Boston all solid playoff teams. The odds makers at Bodog have the Miami Heat a -5 1/2 point favorite on the road against the Charlotte Bobcats.
The Heat is coming off a 104-100 victory on the road over the Orlando Magic moving them to 23-25-1 ATS for the season. Forward LeBron James scored a season high 51 points with 8 rebounds and 11 assist with 23 of the Heats 30 first quarter points. James can check the Magic off his list. Dwayne Wade chipped in 14 points and Chris Bosh added 13 to round out the double digit starters. Vegas odds makers have the Miami Heat +200 to win the 2010-2011 NBA Championship.
The Bobcats were a winner 97-87 on the road at the Detroit Pistons moving them to and even .500 23-23-2 ATS for the season. Stephen Jackson had 39 points 5 boards and 4 assists while Kwame Brown posted a double double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. The total has gone UNDER in 7 of last 8 games when playing at home against Miami and is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games when playing at home against Miami. Vegas odds makers have the over/under for the total score at 188 1/2 points combined of the Miami Heat and Charlotte Bobcats.
I predict the Heat win on the road again!
Note: Rich Fritz is a Blog Writer on NSAwins.com and not a pro handicapper. For expert NFL Football Predictions against the Vegas spreads please visit the NSAwins.com homepage for top predictions today from the National Sports Advisors.