Denver Nuggets vs Miami Heat Prediction & Betting Tips - NBA

Prediction published on 12/06/2023, 03:13  by Joseph King | Modified on 12/06/2023 at 03:13 in NBA Predictions

The Miami Heat face elimination when they take on the Denver Nuggets away from home for Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The Nuggets are just one win away from their first ever championship following back-to-back wins in South Beach to take a 3-1 series lead. They now have a golden opportunity to close things out in front of their home fans at the Pepsi Center on Monday night. Denver showed excellent resilience to bounce back with two away wins after dropping Game 2 at home. They were able to hold the Heat to under 100 points in both meetings, winning 109-94 in Game 3 and taking Game 4 by a scoreline of 108-95. The consecutive victories means that the Nuggets have now won nine of their last 10 games overall. They come into Game 5 close to double-digit favorites according to the bookmakers and seemingly have one hand already on the trophy. 

The Heat are faced with a mammoth task of slowing down Nikola Jokic and this clearly superior Nuggets team. However, if there’s one team you don’t want to count out, it’s the Miami Heat. Erik Spoelstra’s men have upset the odds on numerous occasions in the 2023 NBA Playoffs, shocking the top-seeded Bucks in the first round and winning a seven-game war with the then-title favorites Boston Celtics. However, we question how much the Heat players have left in the tank. Just getting to this stage was a massive achievement for Miami, becoming only the second ever eight-seed to reach the NBA Finals. They appear to have run out of juice at the final hurdle as the Nuggets quality and depth is proving to be too much to handle.

Close out games can often be tricky situations to bet on. The full game point spread is probably a point or two too high. With that being said, Denver is simply the better team and we can’t ignore the situational spot that is at play here. Momentum is fully with the Nuggets as the Heat players will likely feel that they missed their opportunity after having stolen a game on the road in Game 2. They’ll now have to win three in a row against a superior Nuggets team, two of which would have to come at the Pepsi Center.