Miami Heat vs Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors play host to the Miami Heat tonight at the Oracle Arena.
The Warriors will be gunning for a seventh straight win tonight after making light work of the Kings in a 128-116 road win on Saturday. Stephen Curry connected on eight 3-pointers to lead the team with a game-high 38 points and 11 assists while Draymond Green added 25 points as the Warriors shot a sizzling 56 percent from the field and 19 of 37 from the 3-point arc to take down the Kings. A smaller lineup was again the winning strategy for the Warriors who improve to 35-2 on the season and 18-2 on the road.
The Miami Heat have been pedestrian as a visitor this season and while their strength has been their defense in the first two-plus months this 2015-16 campaign they didn’t exhibit that asset in their Saturday night loss to the Utah Jazz. Utah Jazz was uber successful from with a 55 percent success rate from the field. The Heat struggled to defend the perimeter against the Jazz and a repeat performance tonight will be result in a second straight road defeat facing the Warriors in Oakland.
The Heat are at the top of the league charts in defensive efficiency allowing just 95 points per game this season. The Heat are in the middle of a six-game road trip and their defense will be tested tonight against the league’s top scoring team, Golden State, who average 115 points per contest. The Heat follow tonight’s affair playing either high-octane offenses (Oklahoma City, LA Clippers) or at altitude (vs. Denver at the Pepsi Center) before returning to South Beach for a game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
While defending Miami’s failures in Saturday night’s loss to the Jazz, because of players fighting aches and pains, in the form of Dwayne Wade (shoulder), Tyler Johnson (shoulder) and Hassan Whiteside (knee), the injury issues remain for tonight’s contest against Curry and the Warriors. Wade left the game against the Jazz midway through the third quarter before returning but was obviously not himself after shooting just 3-of-17 from the floor in 33 minutes of court time.
Pick: Over 208 (-110)
