Miami vs Indiana Online Betting Odds
The Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat will face off in the Eastern Conference Finals beginning on Sunday afternoon. The two teams took very different paths to the conference finals. The Heat rolled over just about everyone in their path, while the Pacers have endured plenty of struggles in the postseason.[ad-4468020]
Series Odds
Series: Miami -390, Indiana +330
NBA Title: Miami +110, Indiana +1100
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The Pacers did not look like themselves down the stretch in the regular season, then took a while to get going in the postseason as well. Indiana needed seven games to get by a Hawks team that barely finished above .500 during the regular year.
The team began to turn things around in the Wizards series. The Pacers showed flashes of the dominance they showed at times during the regular season, and were able to oust a talented Wizards team in six games.
As for the Heat, they enjoyed a much smoother ride to this point. The team dispatched of the Bobcats in just four games, then needed only five to get by the Nets. LeBron James came up huge in one of those contests, scoring 49 points to sink the Nets on their home court.
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Unfortunately for the Heat, they’ve needed big games like that one from their leader. Dwyane Wade has shown his age, Chris Bosh has been invisible at times, and the rest of the team’s supporting cast hasn’t been able to answer the bell when called upon.
Now the Pacers and Heat are set to meet for the third consecutive postseason, with Miami having taken each of those first two meetings en route to NBA titles. Pacers center Roy Hibbert was considered the x-factor in stopping LeBron, and was regarded as one of the best defensive players in the league, but he’s had a rough go of it during the postseason.
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Hibbert began to show flashes of his old self in the latter stages of the team’s series with Washington, recording 11 blocks in the final five games of the series, and breaking out with a 28-point effort in Game 2, but he’ll need to be consistently good night in and night out if the Pacers are to have any success in this series.
The season series between these two teams was split at 2-2, with both sides predictably winning at home and losing on the road. The Pacers’ defense was key to each of their wins, as they held the Heat under 90 points in both of those contests.
However, that was a very different Pacers team than the one that’s taking the court these days. Outside of just a handful of games in their last series, the Pacers haven’t looked like the team that’s given the Heat fits in the postseason in recent years, and they haven’t looked like a team that can consistently go to battle with them in a seven-game series.
The Pacers play strong defense and are better offensively than many believe, but they’ll need to be at the top of their game if they’re going to compete with the Heat. If they can re-find their mojo for seven games, this will be a heck of a series, but that’s a big if.
NBA Playoff Betting Prediction
The Pacers can be excused for letting some games get away from them in March after having just about locked up the East, but they clearly had some issues turning things back on in the first two rounds. There won’t be any excuse for not bringing their A-game against the Heat, but given their recent struggles, it’s hard to imagine them rising to the Heat’s level when need be.
With that said, the Heat certainly showed some flaws in their series against the Nets, but were bailed out multiple times by LeBron. This will be their toughest series yet, but they’ve shown that they have what it takes to beat the Pacers even when they are at their best.
Series prediction: Miami wins 4-2
