NBA BASKETBALL BETTING PREVIEW - MIAMI HEAT @ HOUSTON ROCKETS

NBA Basketball

2012-11-12 - Miami Heat at Houston Rockets

A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown

Miami Heat @ Houston Rockets
United States: NBA Basketball
Monday 12 November 2012 - Tip Off 8pm
1am (British Time)

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Preview

The Miami Heat (5-2) were blown out in Memphis last night to fall to 1-2 on the road this season, and that loss also meant their 4 game winning streak was snapped. They will be hoping for a better all around effort tonight as they head to Houston to face the Rockets (3-3).

Houston themselves have struggled to find the consistency early in the season, but that was to be expected after they revamped their roster and only recently signed James Harden from the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Rockets have actually won all 3 games played against teams from the Eastern Conference while losing all 3 against teams from the Western Conference.

The Rockets blew out Detroit on Saturday and they return home for a two game set. James Harden has played well as a starter this season, averaging 26.5 points per game this season, but he will want to show his best in this game after being bottled up in the NBA Finals by the Heat.

They are also playing with a little emotion at the moment as they are missing their Head Coach who is away dealing with a family matter and is not expected back for this game after missing the win at Detroit.

Chris Bosh has been playing very well for Miami, but they will want to get more out of Dwyane Wade who struggled since returning from the flu that kept him out on Friday night against Atlanta. Wade was 3-15 from the field yesterday in the loss to Memphis, but he has averaged just under 30 points per game in 8 games in Houston in his career.

LeBron James is leading the Heat with 21.9 points per game, but he is closely followed by Bosh who has 20.4 points per game so far in the early campaign.

Head to Head

Miami have won 5 in a row in the series and all 4 meetings since the 'Big Three' got together on South Beach.

The Heat are 4-1 against the spread in those games, including winning back to back games in Houston while covering the spread twice.

Prediction

It was a bad day in the office for the Heat yesterday, but Miami are a very strong team coming off a blowout loss and I expect they will be able to show that again here.

Houston have been inconsistent so far and I believe Miami have a little too much Defensive power for them in this game.

The Heat have been very good in the recent series and I'll take them to cover the spread.

The Pick :