NBA: Miami Heat vs. Portland Trail Blazers Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Miami Heat continue their exhausting trip throughout the Wester Conference in Portland, where they meet the Trail Blazers. Both teams will have big problems with absent players, but that won’t and can’t be an alibi for a potential failure. Miami experienced back-to-back losses in the past two stops, while on the other side, the Blazers stopped a four-game losing skid against Atlanta. The team from the RIP City is long gone from the playoff race, and only a big breakthrough could get them back into the contention.

Preview

Miami Heat (23-15, TBA) lost in Sacramento 115-113, and after that in San Francisco against the Golden State Warriors, 115-108. But what is more important and more painful than these two defeats is Jimmy Butler’s injury. The fantastic two-way guard-forward is out due to an ankle injury after picking up the same in the Bay Area.

Jimmy B played for 28 minutes and scored 22 points with five boards and three assists. Tyler Herro had 18, but he played for 42 minutes and had only seven hits in 42 attempts. Kyle Lowry was 39 minutes on the floor, scoring 16 buckets, 4-for-13, and adding 11 assists with six boards.

Caleb Martin is imposing himself as a very respectable player. He had 19 points and nine boards in this one, while Kyle Guy had 14 off the bench, four threes in eight attempts. The Heat allowed 58 points from the paint, while scoring only 32, and that was the consequence of Bam Adebayo’s absence.

Portland Trail Blazers (14-22, TBA) saw the 22-year old Anfernee Simons drooping 43 points against the Hawks while having a gunfight with Trae Young, who scored 56 on the other end. Now, Simmons might lose the individual battle with Trae, but his team won, 136-131.

The Trail Blazers dropped 18 threes, and just to remind you that they didn’t have Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, and they probably won’t for this game either. What is even worse is the news that Simons, too, won’t play because of health and safety protocols.

Norman Powell had 26 points vs. Hawks with six assists, Nassir Little had 22 with nine boards, missing only one of his five three-point attempts, while Jusuf Nurkic posted another double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds, having five assists as well.

Head to Head Games

This will be the first meeting between these two sides in the 2021/22 season. In the previous campaign, they split one win each, but the interesting thing is that the guests celebrated in both events. Portland in Miami, 125-122, and vice versa, 107-98.

Prediction

The Heat are in a much better position here, even though they won’t have several of their big-time players like Butler, Adebayo, and Morris. With Kyle Lowry, Herro, Strus, and Martin, they have at least the same offense, but on the other hand, a much, much better defense than the Trail Blazers. That is why we pick their win here. Also, with all due respect, Spoelstra is a much better head coach than Chauncey Billups, which will be yet another plus for the Heat in this event.

Pick: Heat Win

Here is the preview for the Nets vs. Pacers game.