Miami Heat @ San Antonio Spurs – Thursday Game 4 (San Antonio leads 2-1)
The best sports betting websites have learned to not jump the gun when it comes to picking winners for the NBA Finals. The Miami Heat lost game one at home, but came back with a vengeance in game two and tied the series. The Miami Heat have shown that they can come back and compete with the San Antonio Spurs, but some fans and betting experts are starting to wonder if the Heat can actually beat the Spurs in a seven-game series.
The San Antonio Spurs showed the sportsbook agents just how focused they can be when the Spurs won game three by a nearly 40 point margin over a Miami team that is known for its scoring and defense. The Heat looked completely helpless against the Spurs in game three and that could have laid the foundation for the rest of the series. The Spurs looked very comfortable in its game three win and it also looked like San Antonio was dictating the pace of the game. The Spurs may have lost Tony Parker for game four, but that may not be enough to slow San Antonio down.
Why the Heat Will Win
The sports book experts know that the Miami Heat is able to learn from its mistakes and come out with a different approach in games following loses. After losing a close contest in game one, the Heat came back and put the Spurs down in game two. The Miami Heat knows exactly why it lost game three. It knows what players did not perform and it knows who has to step up big in game four to tie the series. As long as the Heat can identify the problems, there is a good chance that the problems can be fixed.
Why the Spurs Will Win
In order to set the proper sports betting lines for this game, the bookmakers have to decide if the Heat lost game three or if San Antonio won. The defense that San Antonio was playing rendered Lebron James almost helpless in game three. Even with Tony Parker possibly not playing in game four, the Spurs still know how to contain Miami. The Spurs had so many bench players step up in game three that it is almost conceivable that head coach Greg Popovich may let the bench play the majority of game four. That is how confident the San Antonio Spurs will be going into game four.
The Bottom Line
The Miami Heat knows what went wrong in game three, but the San Antonio Spurs may not let Miami correct the problems. San Antonio forced Miami to make a lot of mistakes in game three that the Spurs could easily replicate in game four. At this point, the NBA finals look like it is San Antonio’s to lose instead of Miami’s to win.
Pick: San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs will not need to worry about a long layoff in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. They will finally play two games within a normal span of time.
2013 NBA Finals, Game 2:
San Antonio Spurs @ Miami Heat – Sunday, June 9
In the realm of online sports betting, this game will be a very hard one to pick, at least when compared to other games in this series. When looking at pay per head sites, you can make a fundamental determination about this contest that can shape your betting play. Examining BSNsportsblog.com reviews during an NBA season will not give you much to go on in this game or in this series, because San Antonio and Miami did not field their normal starting fives in their two regular season matchups. When the Spurs visited the Heat in late November, they didn’t play their starters because coach Gregg Popovich felt his guys needed to rest in advance of a key conference game against Memphis two days later.
When the Heat traveled to San Antonio at the end of March, they didn’t play LeBron James or Dwyane Wade because Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra felt his stars needed to rest in advance of the playoffs, especially since the Heat had locked up home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs and in the Eastern Conference in particular. These teams don’t have a true scouting report on each other. It’s important to realize that Miami has made roster changes since these teams last met as full squads in 2012. Miami added Ray Allen and Chris Andersen, altering the way it plays. San Antonio’s starting five has not played a full game against the Heat’s normal complement of players.
When you make a betting play at an online sportsbook, you need to be able to frame an event in a larger context, and the context here is that after Game 1, we’ll know more about the matchups in this series, and how the chess match between Popovich and Spoelstra will take shape.
Yes, it’s true that San Antonio’s older roster – especially its aging trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili – got a week and a half of rest before the Finals began on June 6. They will have two more days of rest before Game 2 on Sunday. However, the thing to keep in mind is that Miami – while not nearly as rested as San Antonio – will also get two full days of recovery after Game 1, and the Heat will be able to sleep in their own beds. Miami will be helped to a degree by the Thursday-Sunday-Tuesday playing schedule of the Finals. Stamina probably won’t be a negative factor for the Heat in this contest.
What points to a San Antonio win in this game is not so much the rest-based part of the equation, but the rust-based part of the calculus. The Spurs should be able to shake off the rust that will likely characterize Game 1. They should be in flow in Game 2, displaying the kind of rhythm and seamless action that defines their halfcourt sets. San Antonio will probably find Game 1 to be an uneven and uncomfortable experience, but Game 2 should be different, and that’s why the Spurs deserve a small but real edge on Sunday evening in Miami.
Bologna will host Napoli in match from the 36 round of the Italian Serie A. The game will be played at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on Wednesday evening. Before the games of this round the hosts were on the twelfth place on the table with 40 points, while the visitors were second with 72 points.
Both teams already played 2 matches earlier this season. In the game from the Italian league at Stadio San Paolo Bologna won with 3:2. The two teams were opponents in the fifth round of Coppa Italia and the game was held again at the stadium of Napoli, when Bologna won for second time this season with 2:1.
Bologna is without chances to play in Europe next season and three rounds before the end of this season has 8 points more than Palermo, which is in the relegation zone, on the eighteenth place. Napoli surely will play in the Champions League next season, but if achieve victory at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, the players of Walter Mazzarri will guarantee the second position in the final standings and this place will send the team directly in the groups of the Champions League.
Bologna is without victory in their last 6 matches from the league. In them the team from Stadio Renato Dall’Ara registered 5 draws and 1 loss. Bologna finished draw with Udinese (0:0), Torino (2:2), Palermo (1:1), Sampdoria (1:1) and Atalanta Bergamo (1:1) and lost against Lazio (0:6).
Napoli is in very good shape lately and has 5 wins and 1 draw in their previous 6 games from Serie A. The team from Stadio San Paolo beat Torino (5:3), Genoa (2:0), Cagliari Calcio (3:2), Pescara Calcio (3:0) and Inter (3:1) and finished draw with Milan (1:1).
Napoli is the team in better form and it won’t be a surprise if the players of Walter Mazzarri achieve victory at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara. Napoli needs three points to secure a second position in the final standings and the team from Stadio San Paolo probably will try to get this victory in the match against Bologna.
Bologna has 2 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss in their last 6 matches at home in Serie A. Napoli is with 2 victories in their previous 3 visits in the Italian league. Napoli has scored the incredible 17 goals in their previous 6 games in the championship.
Prediction: 2
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