Spread and Over/Under Predictions: Heat at Hornets

The Hornets (6-11) host the second of five straight home games tonight, this time against division rival Miami Heat (7-8).

Charlotte is looking to snap a two-game losing streak heading into the game. LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller have been on fire lately, but the team has been decimated by injuries to several starters and rotation players.

Help may be on the way soon with Mark Williams and Nick Richards being assigned to the Greensboro Swarm for their rehab duties, but until then the front will look thin.

On the other hand, the Heat are looking to get back to .500 after falling in a close game to the Bucks last night in Miami. Despite being on pace for a record worse than last season’s 46-36, Miami’s currently held sixth seed in the Eastern Conference is actually higher than the eighth seed they finished with last season.

Here are my picks for tonight’s match. Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.

Star ratings:

1 Star – Not very confident

2 Star – A bit confident

3-star – Fairly confident

4 Star – Very confident

5 Star – Should be a lock to happen

Spread: Heat -3.5

4-star game on the heat (-3.5): For Monday’s game against the Magic, this article said it would be irresponsible to pick the Hornets as 6-point underdogs while missing Miles Bridges, Tre Mann, Mark Williams, Nick Richards, DaQuan Jeffries and Grant Williams.

The Heat aren’t quite as solid as the Magic right now and have the rest disadvantage after playing last night, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Hornets’ rotation is decimated by injuries at the moment.

Picking the Hornets wouldn’t be irresponsible this time, but that doesn’t mean it would be an advisable choice here.

Over/Under: 218.5

3-star game on the underside: Asking LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller to drag this list to their 108 implied points tonight against a team just outside the top-10 in the NBA in defensive rating seems like a tough ask. Add to that the fact that Miami is one of the slower teams in the league playing the second night of a back-to-back, and that Charlotte just put up 84 points against Orlando, and under feels pretty good here.

My picks this season:

ATS: 9-3 (75.0%)

O/U: 6-6 (50.0%)

Overall: 15-9 (62.5%)

Odds Disclaimer

The odds are updated regularly and are subject to change.

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