Miami Heat vs Boston Celtics Prediction & Betting Tips - NBA

Prediction published on 21/05/2022, 08:54  by Joseph King | Modified on 21/05/2023 at 08:57 in NBA Predictions

The Eastern Conference Finals heads to South Beach for game three with the eighth-seed Miami Heat hosting the second-seed Boston Celtics. The Heat have caused a huge shake up in the 2023 NBA Playoffs after taking a 2-0 series lead over the heavily favored Celtics. They now return home for the next two games with a chance to close out the series at the Kaseya Center. The winner of this series will face off against either the Denver Nuggets or the LA Lakers in the Finals. A meeting with the Nuggets is looking the most likely at the moment, as they hold a 3-0 lead over Los Angeles.

The Heat continue to impress in this postseason run. Jimmy Butler and company faced no level of intimidation whatsoever as they blitzed the Celtics at TD Garden in Boston. Miami would walk away with two wins despite being close to double-digit underdogs for both contests. The hosts are a perfect five wins from five on their home court in the 2023 playoffs. In addition, Miami have now won their last three straight games and five of the last six overall. Despite this, the oddsmakers still have Miami as slight underdogs even in front of the home crowd. 

Boston are faced with the unenviable task of trying to scrape four wins off this hard-nosed Heat team in the next five games. Failure to do so would mean massive disappointment for the Celtics who have been the favorites for the NBA title for much of the year. It’s hard to avoid the sentiment that Boston blew their opportunity. Aside from the game one loss, the Celts held a nine-point lead over the Heat with only six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of game two. Grant Williams would then foolishly get into a verbal sparring match with Jimmy Butler. That confrontation was seemingly all the cold-blooded Butler needed to inspire his team to a 24-9 run the rest of the way.