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Mixed martial arts Miami Heat vs Chicago Bulls Bet Builder Tips: 2.00 Bet Builder For Decisive Play-In Game
Miami Heat vs Chicago Bulls Bet Builder: Friday, April 14th
It’s an elimination game for the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls on Friday night. The winner faces the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs. The loser begins its offseason, wondering what might have been.
Miami reached this decider after falling as favourites to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday. Chicago staged a dramatic comeback in Toronto to upset the odds north of the border, giving themselves a chance at making the postseason despite finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls’ situation is the beauty of the Play-In tournament (or the problem with it, depending on your point of view).
These teams met three times during the regular season, including the opening game. Chicago was victorious in all three, with eight points being the smallest margin of victory. Miami was without Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry for the second of the losses.
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Lowry starred in Miami’s loss to Atlanta, rolling back the clock with a big scoring night. He kept their offence afloat when it was all too frequently stagnant on his way to 33 points with six threes. It was the former Raptor’s highest scoring game since May 2021. Some might view this as a sign he is getting healthy at the right time and has saved himself for the postseason. More likely, though, that showing was an exception and Miami cannot rely on that sort of production from Lowry.
They can, however, be relatively confident in another productive night from Bam Adebayo. Chicago will not be as impactful on the boards as the Hawks were, and Adebayo has good history in this matchup.
The All-Star centre scored 27 and 23 in the final two regular season games against Chicago. Since the start of 2020-21, he has shot over 60% from the field and averaged 18.9 points per game against Nikola Vucevic. Adebayo has passed this alternate line in seven of his previous nine duels with Vucevic.
On the other end of the floor, Zach LaVine is the man to watch. LaVine put the Bulls on his back with a majestic third quarter to lead their come-from-behind win in Toronto. He finished with 39 points after a quiet end to the regular season, but has generally been exceptional since February.
This isn’t the easiest matchup, with Butler potentially guarding him for stretches, and LaVine was held to seven-for-12 from the field when they last met. Still, he will have opportunities to go at Tyler Herro, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent. He has scored 21 or more in 22 of his last 29 games.
Miami Heat vs Chicago Bulls Bet Builder
To wrap this one up, we are going for an alternate spread with the Bulls at +13.5. Betting against Butler in a game like this doesn’t feel great, so taking the standard line is a no-go.
Miami’s offence is struggling, though, and it’s hard to see them blowing the Bulls out here. Chicago’s defence can be stifling in the halfcourt, while they have enough offensive talent to at least stay close.
- Zach LaVine over 20.5 points
- Chicago Bulls +13.5
- Bam Adebayo over 14.5 points
Bet Builder Odds: 2.00
Odds as at 9:00 am on April 14th, 2023. Odds may now differ.
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