The Eastern Conference Quarterfinals matchup between the Miami Heat and Charlotte Bobcats is one that comprises two different narratives for two very different franchises.[ad-4468020]<\/p>\n
[dfads params=’groups=63740&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/strong><\/p>\n Miami enters this series looking more vulnerable than years past. This is an organization that has been to three straight championships, and it\u2019s looking to win its third straight title. Expectations are championship or bust, but the team hasn\u2019t been as good on either end of the floor late in the year.<\/p>\n For Charlotte, this is about returning to relevance. The Bobcats haven\u2019t been to the playoffs since 2010\u2014the team\u2019s only postseason appearance\u2014and this is arguably the best basketball they\u2019ve played since their introduction to league back in 2004.<\/p>\n They\u2019re surprisingly a great defensive team this year, and while that has a lot to do with the competition out East, it also has to do with the roster moves this team made last summer and the growth and development of its young core pieces.<\/p>\n As well as the Bobcats have played this season, the Heat are a different animal when it comes to a seven-game series. They\u2019re averaging 102.2 points per game while giving up just 97.4, which is a positive 4.8 point differential. Charlotte, on the other hand, has a negative point differential of 0.2, but it is a fantastic defensive squad. If Charlotte is going to stand a chance, it\u2019s going to be based on the play of Al Jefferson. Despite adding players throughout the years like Greg Oden and Chris Andersen, the Heat are still using Chris Bosh primarily at the center position, leaving them exposed on the block.<\/p>\n Jefferson averaged 21.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks this season\u2014not to mention a PER of 22.75\u2014and his play on the block will be what keeps the Bobcats from fizzling away.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for X-factors, look the way of Gary Neal and Ray Allen.<\/p>\n The two shooting guards have a knack for knocking down long-range shots, and while neither will be a prominent part of the offense, we saw what Allen can do last season in the finals when he gets hot.<\/p>\n Both players can have that kind of impact in this series, especially if the defenses pick up and games end up as low-scoring affairs.<\/p>\n Out of respect for what the Bobcats did this season, we\u2019re going to give them a game in this series. Talk about the watered-down Eastern Conference all you want, but this team exceeded expectations and has returned to the postseason when no one thought that was even possible.<\/p>\n That said, we\u2019re still talking about a matchup with the Heat, and even though Miami isn\u2019t playing its best basketball, it would take a colossal collapse to drop this series.<\/p>\n Miami will advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and it will do it in five games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Charlotte vs Miami Odds The Eastern Conference Quarterfinals matchup between the Miami Heat and Charlotte Bobcats is one that comprises two different narratives for two very different franchises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":73477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[6141,5381,6139,26477,61899,2765,12359,11729,13214],"class_list":["post-75765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-bobcats-vs-heat","tag-charlotte-bobcats","tag-charlotte-bobcats-vs-miami-heat","tag-charlotte-vs-miami","tag-eastern-conference-playoffs","tag-miami-heat","tag-nba-playoff-predictions","tag-round-1","tag-series-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75765"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76586,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75765\/revisions\/76586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
CLICK GRAB OUR BEST Expert Hoops Picks for 2014 GAMBLING season!<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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\nThe Bobcats scored just 96.9 points per game this year, but it also gave up just 97.1 points\u2014the fourth-best mark in the league.<\/p>\nNBA Playoffs Series Betting Prediction<\/h3>\n