NBA Playoffs: Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics Game 3 Preview, Odds, Prediction

The series between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics moves to the TD Garden now. Boston managed to respond following a loss in the opening event of the East Finals, and they have erased Miami’s home-court advantage. Of course, they now have to confirm that in Massachusetts, otherwise, the triumph in Game 2 won’t be of too much value. Both Marcus Smart and Al Horford will be ready for Game 3, and we already saw their impact two nights ago, especially Smart’s. As said, the venue is the famous TD Garden, the place that saw numerous battles like this one.

Preview

Miami Heat (+220) are coming into this event as heavy underdogs. The reason for that is their performance in Game 2, which showed their inferiority against Boston’s defense. Apart from Jimmy Butler, there hasn’t been a single player in Miami able to create a situation for scoring. Also, the Heat’s defense has been pretty pale in this one.

Though, we need to say that the Celtics sunk 20 three points in 40 attempts and that the Heat or any other team simply couldn’t defend that. On the other hand, the hosts were pretty bad with three-pointers, having only 29.4% of made shots behind the three-point line.

Butler scored 29 points, 11-for-18 from the field, and had six boards, five on the offensive side. Gabe Vincent scored 14, the same as Victor Oladipo. Tyler Herro was below his usual thing, with 11 buckets.

Boston Celtics (-270) had three players with 24 or more points in Game 2. That is how the Cs look like when Smart plays. The defensive player of the year in the league was one board short of a triple-double, having 24 buckets, 12 assists and nine boards, plus three steals. On the other side, he was unstoppable in defense.

Jayson Tatum scored 27 buckets with five boards and assists, while Jaylen Brown had 24 points, eight rebounds, and three dimes. These three guys dropped 13 threes combined. Grant Williams was superb off the bench with 19 points, while Al Horford had 10 points without a miss from the field.

Smart and Horford’s comeback on the floor was the spark that moved the Cs, who looked at least 30% better than without these two guys in the lineup. Boston’s defense is not the same with one of these two players out, let alone with both.

Head to Head Games

The opening game of the series saw the Heat winning 118-107, and the Celtics responded right away, beating Miami in the second event, 127-102. Both Horford and Smart didn’t appear in Game 1, which made things a lot easier for the hosts. Yet, as soon as they got back, the situation changed.

Prediction

The Cs have a swing now and they are pretty fired up before coming back home. They know that the TD Garden is a very hostile place to be for all the rivals in the league. We predict their victory in Game 3, and we will risk here and recommend betting on the hosts to cover a 6.5-point spread. This is their moment, with everything going in their favor plus the momentum.

Pick: Celtics -6.5