The Heat (29-9) have won 10 straight home games, but Dwyane Wade has an injured ankle and Miami will be facing a Hawks (23-15) team that has won 3 straight and is coming off a solid away win over the Indiana Pacers last night. <\/p>\n
Venue\/ Stadium: AmericanAirlines Arena, Miami, FL<\/strong> Matchup<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Preview<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Atlanta Hawks vs. Miami Heat Preview<\/strong><\/p>\n Wade injured his ankle last night, but he expects to be available for this big game. NBA lines have the Heat as big 11.5-point home favorites with a total of 190.<\/p>\n In their last games the heat crushed the New Jersey Nets 108-78 and the Hawks beat the Indiana Pacers 101-96.<\/p>\n This season the Hawks are 19-18-1 ATS with an O\/U record of 14-23-1 and the Heat are 20-18 ATS with an O\/U record of 17-19-2.<\/p>\n Wade really struggled in the home loss to the Hawks in the beginning of January going 4\/17 from the floor and if he cannot go the other 2 of the Big 3 of Chris Bosh and LeBron James will have to take up the scoring slack.<\/p>\n James has averaged 32.4 ppg on 53.5% shooting and 9 rpg in his last 8 games against the Hawks. Atlanta ranks 6th in the league on defense and they may need to rely more on D in this game since leading scorer Joe Johnson (17.9 ppg) is questionable with a knee injury. [soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n Josh Smith (16.9 ppg) has stepped up with Johnson out averaging 23.4 ppg and 12.4 rpg in his last 5 games, but in 3 games facing Miami this season he is only averaging 11.3 ppg and 8.7 rpg on 34.1% shooting. If Miami can keep in check again they should easily win this game.<\/p>\n The Hawks almost shot 43% from beyond the 3-point arc in last night’s win over the Pacers and will need to hit the long ball again in this game. Still, this game is all about the Hawks’ defense facing a Miami offense that ranks 2nd in the league in scoring.<\/p>\n Even in the win last night the G duo of Kirk Hinrich and Jeff Teague struggled last night combining to score 11 points on 4\/15 shooting and they need to get back on track and hit their J’s tonight.<\/p>\n In some betting trends for this Southeast Division match up the Hawks are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall, 0-7 ATS in their last 7 games as a road underdog of 11.0 or greater, and they have an Under record of 6-2 in their last 8 games.<\/p>\n The Heat are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games, 9-3 ATS in their last 12 games overall, and they have an Under record of 5-1 in their last 6 games.<\/p>\n
\nTime\/Date: 7:30 PM EST Wednesday, March 8, 2012<\/strong>
\nNCAA Odds From: Bovada<\/a><\/strong>
\nMoneyline: OFF<\/strong>
\nSpread (ATS): Heat -11.5 <\/strong>
\nOver\/Under: 190<\/strong><\/p>\n