Warriors vs. Heat NBA Odds, Preview and Pick (Archive)
After beating the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, the Golden State Warriors take a trip down the road to South Beach on Wednesday evening to face Jimmy Butler and the Eastern Conference-leading Miami Heat. The tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM EDT at FTX Arena.
The Dubs lost their third game in a row in Orlando, as they struggle to get it done without Stephen Curry. The Heat, on the other hand, fell to the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night, even though Joel Embiid and James Harden were sidelined for Doc Rivers’ squad.
This is the second meeting of the campaign between the two teams, with Golden State coming out victorious in January in the Bay Area. Both teams are jostling for playoff seeding in this key battle.
Let’s see what the NBA odds for this matchup tell us!
Golden State Warriors vs. Miami Heat
Wednesday, March 23, 2022 – 07:30 PM EDT at FTX Arena
Betting Preview
The Warriors may be in some trouble in this matchup. Golden State has not won (0-3) since Steph Curry’s injury last week. It’s one thing to lose to Boston or on a late play to the Spurs, but a 94-90 loss in Orlando last night was ugly. Golden State shot 40% and turned the ball over 18 times.
Golden State had a whole ugly month of play prior to this recent four-game winning streak and Curry injury, so it’s not like things have been a smooth transition with the returns of Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Andrew Wiggins has been inconsistent and shot terribly last night.
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Miami is coming off its own ugly loss to the 76ers without Joel Embiid and James Harden on Monday. The Heat’s top players played, but the bench was a big letdown, including just 10 points from Tyler Herro. Miami has not lost consecutive games since the beginning of February.
Betting Analysis
There is only one team in the Association with a better home record than Miami: the Phoenix Suns.
The Heat are an impressive 26-9 at FTX Arena and their next four games are in South Beach, which is certainly a good sign as they look to stay atop the heavily competitive East. However, Erik Spoelstra’s group really needs a bounce-back performance here after a rather poor showing in Philly.
No one could’ve imagined Miami would’ve lost to the shorthanded Sixers. Harden and Embiid both on the bench due to back soreness basically seemed like an easy win for the Heat, but that was far from the case.
There were definitely some positive takeaways, with Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, and Bam Adebayo all scoring 20+ points. But, Miami was somehow dominated on the boards on both ends, getting outscored 50-42 in the paint and out rebounded 45-34.
Needless to say, Spoelstra’s squad is going to be very motivated to come out firing on Wednesday. However, Butler, 2022 NBA Sixth Man of the Year odds leader Tyler Herro, and Victor Oladipo are all questionable. Gabe Vincent is also out.
The Warriors are a shoo-in for the postseason and have the second-best odds to win the Western Conference, but currently adapting to life without Steph is far from easy. They’ve yet to win since he left early last week in a blowout loss to the Boston Celtics.
Curry isn’t expected back until the playoffs, which means the likes of Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Jordan Poole, and Andrew Wiggins need to rise to the occasion in his absence.
Monday’s loss to the Magic was definitely disappointing, considering they’re one of the worst teams in the league. Offensively, it was a relatively well-rounded showing, with Poole leading the charge with 26 points while four others finished with at least 15.
But, Klay and Wiggins both failed to produce, combining for a mere 28 points. Draymond also scored just two points.
Expert Pick
Miami is 16-7-1 ATS after a loss, the third-best record in the NBA. I trust the Heat to bounce back at home more than I do the Warriors without Curry right now.
NBA Pick: Heat -6.5 (-110) at Bovada (visit our Bovada Review)
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