Miami Heat vs Boston Celtics Prediction & Betting Tips - NBA

Prediction published on 26/04/2024, 15:13  by Kennedy Kechula in NBA Predictions

The Miami Heat will welcome the Boston Celtics for game three of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff matchup. They won game two in Boston to tie the series at 1-1 and will now seek to take full advantage of home court. The Heat shocked their soon-to-be hosts in game two by winning convincingly 111-101. This took away Boston’s home-court advantage for the first two games. With the series switching to Miami for games three and four, the Heat will hope they can defend home court better. Game two’s victory was Miami’s first this season against Boston. The Heat defeated the Celtics last season in the conference final and should be confident of eliminating them once again. Erik Spoelstra’s men had a superb shooting night in game two. They shot 49% from the field and a massive 53% from three. In game one as they lost 114-94, they were 46% from the field and just 32% from three. Tyler Herro shone in game two as he tallied 24 points and added 14 assists. Caleb Martin and Bam Adebayo were also instrumental in the win as they each scored 21 points. Jimmy Butler remains sidelined with injury and will not be involved here.

The Celtics will be weary of the Heat as they have lost to them multiple times in recent postseasons. They will seek an immediate response after losing game two and try to extinguish any momentum their hosts may have gained. Joe Mazzulla’s men swept the Heat in the regular season with two of their three wins coming in Miami. One of those successes was a dominant 143-110 victory in January. Boston stormed through the regular season and finished with the best record. They were the only team to win at least 60 games. This form was evident in game one of this series where at one point they had assumed a 34-point lead. Boston shot 44% from three in that game but this wasn’t the case in game two as they shot 37%. The Celtics are a three-point volume shooting team. They have led the league this season in threes attempted and made. Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum scored a combined 61 points in game two. They were however the only players to score at least 20 for Boston in the game.