Free NBA Picks and Odds: Oklahoma City Thunder at Miami Heat on ESPN Expert Predictions – NBA Betting Preview 3/16/11: NBA leading scorer Kevin Durant will lead the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road to the American Airlines Arena to take on the simmering Miami Heat on Wednesday evening at 8:00 PM ET on ESPN. The Thunder have won 4 straight and 7 of their last 10 en route to a 43-23 record good for 1st in the Northwest and 4th overall in the Western Conference. Miami has won 3 straight since ending a 5 game losing streak and enter the contest at 46-21 – 1st in the Southeast – but 3rd overall in the Eastern Conference.
“I personally hope we don’t care as a team about the noise on the outside,” Wade said. “We have to learn how to not worry about it either way. At one point, the Miami Heat was great. At one point, the Miami Heat wasn’t. And as I continue to keep saying, we can never get too high or too low. And now going into the stretch, knowing what works … we’ve got to keep it up and keep that energy and effort up, first and foremost.” “I’m sure some people now will start to jump slowly on the bandwagon,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. The odds makers at SportsInterAction have the Miami Heat a -6.5 point favorite at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Heat are coming off a 110-80 revenge win over the San Antonio Spurs at home to move to 31-35-1 ATS for the season. Chris Bosh led the Heat with 30 points and pulled down 12 boards while Dwayne Wade scored 29 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and dished out 4 assists. LeBron James added 21 points with 6 rebounds and 8 assists. Miami is 8-3 SU in its last 11 games when playing Oklahoma City. Vegas odds makers have the Miami Heat +140 to win the 2010-2011 NBA Championship.
The Thunder is coming off a 116-89 thumping of the Washington Wizards on the road to move to a tidy 35-31 ATS for the season. Durant led the scoring with 32 points while point guard Russell Westbrook poured in 18 points and dished out 12 assists. Kendrick Perkins played 20 minutes in his first action since being traded from Boston and scored 6 points and pulled down 9 rebounds. The total has gone OVER in 4 of last 5 games when playing on the road against Miami. Vegas odds makers have the over/under for the total score at 198 points combined of the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder.
I predict the Heat win and cover at home!
FREE PICK: Miami -6.5