Miami Heat at Toronto Raptors
Wednesday, 2/16/11, 7:00 PM EDT
Opening Point Spread: Miami -9.5
Current Betting Line: Miami -9
Opening Total: 202.5
Current Total: 202.5
Miami is coming off a hard-fought 110-103 road victory over Indiana and forward Chris Bosh will now lead the team into his old stomping grounds Wednesday night. “The fans think he’s a traitor,” said Toronto’s Sonny Weems. “It would mean a lot to them if we can get this win, and it would mean a lot for our team.” Bosh finished his time with the Raptors as the team’s all-time leader in points, rebounds and blocks during his seven seasons north of the border. “At no time did I feel like I said anything degrading or acted uncivilized,” Bosh commented. “I’m pretty happy with the way things went.” He will try to lead the Heat to a 41-15 overall record and improve their road record to 13-5 against Eastern Conference opponents. Miami is 23-23 ATS as a favorite this season and currently giving points on the NBA lines page.
The Heat were led by the scoring exploits of guard Dwyane Wade on Tuesday night, scoring 31 of his 41 points in the first half. Miami has now captured nine victories in its last 10 games. The team has captured two wins this season against Toronto, both coming on its home floor. Bosh didn’t have much success in his first game against his former team, finishing with 12 points and six rebounds, while missing the second meeting due to a sprained left ankle.
Toronto completes the unofficial first half of its season tonight against Miami and will get to enjoy a four-day break before reconvening in Charlotte for practice next Monday. The Raptors enter off an impressive 98-93 home win over the Los Angeles Clippers, which snapped a three-game losing streak. “We listen to enough people talk about Blake Griffin that I think it gets our guys fired up to play and try to stop him,” said coach Jay Triano. “They don’t want to be the recipient of him dunking on them or making plays on them.” Despite the win, the team is just two losses away from matching last season’s total. Toronto is 23-30 ATS on the season and 11-16 ATS at home.
The Raptors have won the final game before the All-Star break in four consecutive years, but will be missing two key players in Linas Kleiza and Reggie Evans due to injury. Toronto will lean heavily on the offensive prowess of center Andrea Bargnani in hopes of pulling off the upset, as he has totaled 50 points in two games against Miami this year. Due to the hype surrounding tonight’s opponent, the Raptors will be playing in front of a sold out Air Canada Centre for just the fourth time in 28 home games tonight.
Bettors will be interested in backing the Raptors due to their 7-2 ATS mark against the Heat in Toronto, while the Heat are 2-7 ATS versus the Atlantic division.
