Enviado: 16 de Diciembre de 2015, 17:46
NBA Brooklyn Nets - Miami Heat
Recommendation: Heat - 4
Odds: 1.833
Bookmaker: Pinnaclesports / Sportmarket
No surprises here, I’m in Nets fading camp again. They showed some signs of life in the close defeat against Clippers, only to erase all the good impressions with a blow-out at home against Orlando. Magic can’t really boast they have atomic offense and still Brooklyn let them shoot almost 54 % from the field, wnough said. I’ll not repeat myself either at the lack of motivation in Brooklyn too, prefer to focus on the Heat instead.
Nets are one of Miami’s favourite opponents in recent times. They have 6 consecutive wins over them, including a 4-game clean sweep last regular season. Heat beat teams with defense and they got the most efficient shot blocker in the game in the moment in Hassan Whiteside. So Brook Lopez will get a very decent match in the paint tonight. Trading rumours are circling around Hassan by the way in the last couple of days, involving possible swaps between him and Dwight Howard or DeMacrus Cousins. Miami organization is of course denying all trade rumours, albeit the old fox Pat Riley will listen carefully to every single possibility as Hassan should be a max-contract player next summer and Heat will hardly be able to afford that. Nothing is coming with immediate effect though. Riley is a very clever man and should realize that swapping Hassan for Dwight is a stupid move, even allowing for the contract situation. DeMarcus is way more decent alternative but I don’t believe Kings will let him go so easily.
So in a nutshell, Hassan should be ready to play and strong as always, he’s not a trouble-making guy anyway. Dragic got a tooth knocked off in the last game but should be ready to play too, so Heat in full strength should deal with Nets more or less easily.