San Antonio Spurs AT Miami Heat
Mar 14, 2011 at 8 PM EST
Opening Line:  Miami -4
Current Line:  MIami -4.5
Opening Total:  199
Current Total:  198.5
Opening Moneyline:  Mia -175 / SA +155
Current Moneyline:  Mia -220 / Sa +185

For as good as Miami has been at home, San Antonio has been equally good on the road.  The Spurs’ NBA best 23-9 at home is nearly as good as Miami’s 24-9 home record and though the Heat are favored in this matchup, San Antonio has a strong chance of pulling the small upset.

Last time the teams met, San Antonio outscored Miami 36-12 in the first quarter en route to a 30 point blowout victory.  San Antonio has the best record in the league and Miami is currently 2.5 games behind Chicago and 3.0 games behind Conference leading Boston.  Orlando is right on Miami’s heels, however, and holding their higher seed is important as home court advantage will prove to be very crucial this year (it is always of course).

Key Matchups:

Tim Duncan vs. Chris Bosh

Bosh used to look like a true all star when he was in Toronto, but since assuming “third fiddle” role in Miami, he has looked a lot more average.  It’s one of the downsides of moving to a better team.  Certainly, however, Chris Bosh doesn’t regret the decision as he is finally on a winning team for the first time in his NBA career.  Duncan has been steady his entire career but is having a career low year due to his reduction in minute (he’s playing about 27 a game now).  He’s still a force both defensively and on the boards, even if his offense has fallen off a good bit.  Bosh will challenge Duncan early and try to get the All-NBA center in early foul trouble.  Duncan should be able to use his length to contest Bosh’s jumpers and thus make life that much more difficult on him.

Manu Ginobili vs. Dwyane Wade

This should be a very exciting matchup to watch.  Both Ginobili and Wade are among the best on their respective teams, though Lebron has a slight scoring edge over Wade.  Wade plays a lot bigger than he actually is, getting 6.7 rebounds per game and 1 blocked shot as well.  He’ll probably be able to play Ginobili close as he is a quicker player, and Ginobili is pretty fast in his own right.  Ginobili can hurt a team in a number of ways, either with dribble penetration, jumpshots, or defensive plays (steals mainly…but also flops!).  Both players will probably have big games against one another, but I expect Wade’s to be the better of the two lines.

Tonight’s game promises to be a great showdown between two of the best teams in the league.  San Antonio, as mentioned, is an excellent road team capable of knocking off the very best on their home courts.  Miami has struggled against the elite teams in the league so this is a big statement game for them.