NBA 14.12

[Hosila]

Heat vs Bulls

It would be a game of the night if we were living in 2013. There`s a genuine hate between these teams, but they are not really rivals anymore. It will be a great chance for the Bulls (14-8) though to unleash their frustration they have gathered over the years when losing against the Heat in the play-offs.

Miami has a record of 11-12 and its more or less what they deserve. With Wade resting his knees and other key players injured, their offense has been built around Chris Bosh. He is an excellent player and a good outside shooter, but his strenght is also his weakness. With Bosh being in awe of his jumpshot the Heat have turned into a jumpshooting team. Much of the same goes for Dwyane Wade aswell, although his reason is simply not having his explosivness anymore. What has not changed is the Heat struggles of rebounding. With Chris Andresen out with an injury, they really don`t have bodies under the rim and teams that have strong low-post presence just keep killing them at both ends.

The Bulls are the worst matchup against the jumpshooting team. They have a great defenders at all positions, so all shots are contested and Noah, Gasol make sure that “no easy layups” policy applies. Joakim Noah is listed as questionable for tonight, but knowing his “deep love” against the Heat he will do anything to return. With or without Noah, the Bulls have advantages at all positions, deeper bench, better momentum and extra motivation against the Heat. Take the Bulls -4 points @1.952 with 3/5 units.

GL

[Hosila]

Nuggets vs Spurs

The Denver Nuggets are known as an excellent home team. Not this season though. Against the Western Conference teams they are 3-3 @home (2 losses against the Trailblazers and 1 vs SAC, wins vs injured OKC, NOP and PHX). They played last night and didn`t really have any chances against the Rockets. Although the Nuggets got an early double digit lead, the Rockets came back fast and secured a safe 12-point win. Playing back-to-back in less than 24 hours time after 48 minutes of uptempo running will be a tough task.

The worst news for the Nuggets tonight has nothing to do with them. It is the fact that the Spurs lost their last game. It was a nationally televised game and it was against the Lakers. Losing it at home in a semi-embarrassing fashion will be the best possible motivation for the team. The Spurs are well-known as a strong bounce back team and they have proved that also this season. After losing in OT against the Nets they came back and ended the Grizzlies 22-game home game win streak. After losing to the Pelicans they came back and beat the Clippers in LA. After losing to the Kings they came back and had a 17-point 1st quarter lead against the 76ers. Shortly being an experienced and a deep team, they usually bring their A game when coming off a loss.

The Spurs have to start playing better as their current 16-7 record leaves them at the bottom half of the Western Conference play-off standings. It`s not where they want to be. There is no question that the Nuggets can surprise teams at home, but it is also clear that there is a huge difference in quality here. The Spurs will be motivated and the Nuggets have to face the Champions at the back end of back-to-back. Take the Spurs to cover -3.5 points with 5/5 units @2.000 from Pinnacle.

gl