Miami Heat at Charlotte Hornets – Game 4 NBA Playoff Picks
Monday, April 25, 7 p.m. (ET) NBA TV
NBA Pointspread: Charlotte -2.5
Total Line: 195.5
Miami at Charlotte Game 4 Matchup Overview
Miami jumped-out to a 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven series with a pair of wins at home both straight-up and against the spread, but it fell flat in Game 3 with a 96-80 loss as a three-point road underdog this past Saturday. The total stayed UNDER closing 197.5-point line in that game after going OVER in the first two contests in NBA playoff picks. The Heat went just 20-21 SU on the road in the regular season and they are 1-7 ATS in their last eight road games.
Four of five Miami starters scored in double figures in Saturday’s loss lead by Luol Deng’s 19 points, but the Heat only got 13 points from their bench. They also struggled shooting the ball with a 34.2 field goal percentage that included a 7-for-22 effort from three-point range. One bright spot was the continued solid play of Hassan Whiteside with 13 points and 18 rebounds. Overall, Miami has averaged 106 points a game in this series while shooting 50 percent from the field.
It has been quite a while since Charlotte won a playoff game and it now finds itself in great position to tie things up after a very slow start. The Hornets lost Game 1 by 32 points and followed that weak effort up with a 12-point loss in Game 2. They closed as 4.5-point road underdogs in both of those losses. Going back to the beginning of this month, Charlotte is a costly 4-7 ATS in their last 11 games on closing betting lines and the total has gone OVER in eight of those games. It went 30-11 SU at home this season with a 21-19-1 record ATS.
Jeremy Lin came off the bench to lead the Hornets in scoring in Game 3 with 18 points. Kemba Walker added 17 points and seven assists to the winning cause, but the team as a whole still only shot 38.9 percent from the field and 27.8 percent from three-point range. Through the first three games of this series, they have averaged just 96.7 points a game as opposed to a season average of 103.4 points that was ranked 11th in the league. Walker has been the team’s leading scorer in the postseason with 21.7 points after averaging 20.9 in the regular season.
Miami at Charlotte Game NBA Playoff Picks
Charlotte was able to breathe some new life into this series and Miami has been a tough team to bet on away from home in recent weeks.