Heat vs. Clippers NBA Odds, Preview and Prediction (Archive)
The Miami Heat were already the wrong NBA pick for Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers – then Jimmy Butler got hurt.
Miami Heat vs. Los Angeles Clippers
Thursday, November 11, 2021- 10:30 PM EST at Staples Center
The Miami Heat are old and tired. They just played the Los Angeles Lakers late Wednesday night, and they took them to overtime, too, before losing 120-117 as 5.5-point road faves. But at least they don’t have very far to travel for Thursday’s game; the Heat (7-4 SU and ATS) will be right back at Staples to take on the Los Angeles Clippers (6-4 SU and ATS), who are on a timely 4-0 SU and ATS run after looking like hot garbage in October.
The Heat needs all the help they can get for this matchup. Even with the zero-mile trip between games, and even though it’s early in the season, Miami probably isn’t the right choice for your NBA picks as -2.5 -point road dogs at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review). But as usual, let’s see what the computers say first.
What’s The Buzz?
Just as we suspected, FiveThirtyEight like the fresh Clippers to win by six points. And ESPN’s Basketball Power Index has L.A. winning 67.1 percent of the time, which is the same as –204 using the thunderous BMR Odds Converter. Wizard of Odds says –204 is about the same as –4.5 on the NBA spreads. It’s all Clippers, all the way down. So why is this team good again all of a sudden? Well, playing the Minnesota Timberwolves twice helps.
The Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers are both below .500, too. But there are some positives for the Clippers themselves. Nicolas Batum (plus-5.8 BPM at Basketball Reference) is doing his best Kawhi Leonard impersonation, and Serge Ibaka made his season debut last week, although he’s off to the G-League now to get some conditioning work in – he won’t face the Heat Thursday night.
The Olds
In any other situation, we might be inclined to bet on Miami in this matchup, but playing the second leg of back-to-back games is not what the doctor ordered. Kyle Lowry (35), Jimmy Butler (32), P.J. Tucker (36), Dewayne Dedmon (32), and Markieff Morris (32) are all suspects; mind you, Morris is unlikely to suit up after suffering whiplash during his encounter with Nikola Jokic on Monday. You mess with the bull, you get the horns.
Even worse, not long before we went to press, Butler sprained his right ankle during Wednesday’s game against the Lakers and did not return. BetOnline is the only sportsbook with NBA lines up for Thursday as I write this; maybe they’ll have changed Miami’s spread by the time you read this, but if you can still get the Clippers at - 2.5, it’s a moral imperative.
NBA Pick: Clippers –2.5 (–110) with BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.