The Miami Heat have been winless against the Brooklyn Nets this season. They will avoid getting struck out the third time against Brooklyn as they host Kevin Durant and company in South Beach this Sunday. Check out our preview of this game below.
The Nets are coming off a 130-115 win over the Charlotte Hornets at home last Saturday to recover nicely from a 123-117 road loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Kevin Durant and Joe Harris teamed up to lead the Nets against the Hornets. Durant had 25 points while Harris led the team with 26. Harris’ production compensated enough for Kyrie Irving’s relatively quiet night. Irving only had 12 points on 5-11 shooting in that game, but you can still expect him to show up with a great performance this Sunday. In two games (both Brooklyn wins) against Miami this season, Irving has averaged 22.0 points on 47.1 percent shooting from the field and 44.4 percent shooting from deep. Brooklyn bettors have made money out of betting on Nets games against the Heat over the past few years.
The Nets are 7-3 against the spread in their last 10 meetings with Miami, dating back to 2018.
Miami is returning to South Beach after a bad road trip that saw them go just 1-4 straight up and 0-3 SU in their last three games. The latest was a 119-111 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves last Friday. Miami can partly lay blame for the losses on its defense that has allowed their last three opponents to score an average of 116.0 points on 50.8 percent shooting from the field. With the high-scoring Nets coming to town this weekend, the Heat definitely need their defense to tighten up. But they can also fight fire with fire since the Nets are not that great of a defensive team either. In fact, Brooklyn is just 23rd in the NBA with 114.2 points allowed per game and 26th with opponents attempting 91.0 field goals per contest. Jimmy Butler was unavailable in the first two meetings with Brooklyn this season, but he’s ready now to take on Durant and company. Butler is averaging 21.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 7.2 assists, so far this season.
The over is 4-0 in the Heat’s last four home games.
