Heat Look to Battle Through Injuries vs the Powerful Nets

The Brooklyn Nets take on the Miami Heat for the third time this season on Sunday afternoon. The Nets won both previous meetings, one where the OVER hit and one where the UNDER hit. The total is set to 225 for this game.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The game opened with the Nets as favorites at -4.5 and the line has since moved to -5.5 across the board. The total opened at 225 and has stayed at that number with even odds on the OVER and UNDER.

Brooklyn News & Notes

The Brooklyn Nets are second in the Eastern Conference and one game out of first place. The team has been dominant this season and ranks highly in several major underlying metrics.

The Nets are third in the NBA in three-point percentage and tops in field goal percentage as well as offensive rating. The Nets are also the only team in the NBA with two players who rank in the top 15 in points per game. Kyrie Irving ranks seventh in the league averaging 27.5 points per game while James Harden is fifteenth with 25.2.

Of course, those stats don’t even account for four-time scoring champ Kevin Durant who averages more points this season than both Irving and Harden with 28.1. Durant doesn’t qualify for the list as he has played too few games.

Health is one of the few questions for the Nets heading into the playoffs as Durant did not play from February 6 to April 5. He has played in four of the five games since. Harden, meanwhile, is out indefinitely with a hamstring injury.

Miami News & Notes

The Miami Heat have some injury concerns of their own as top scoring threat Jimmy Butler is questionable for Sunday’s game with an ankle injury while guard Victor Oladipo is out indefinitely with a knee issue.

Meanwhile, the Heat sit at exactly .500 heading into Sunday, seventh place in the East and playing some good basketball, particularly on the defensive end of the court. The Heat rank sixth in the league in defensive rating. They also spread the ball efficiently as they rank first in the league in assist percentage and fourth in assist ratio.

The problem for the Heat has been on offense. The team ranks 24th in offensive rating, 20th in field goal percentage and a brutal 26th in three-point percentage.

The team tried to address these concerns with the addition of Oladipo at the trade deadline. He has averaged 12 points per game in four games with Miami before getting hurt.