Miami Heat Focal Point of Weekend Betting
The Miami Heat are running away from the pack in the NBA's Eastern Conference standings, but they've had difficulty with the Indiana Pacers so far this season. Indiana will get a chance to take another SU and ATS bite out of Miami on Sunday night as those teams meet on the hardwood to highlight sports betting action for the weekend.
Tipoff for the Pacers vs. Heat game on Sunday is set for 6:00pm ET in Miami, with Indiana already taking care of business against LeBron James and company twice this season at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. In their first meeting on January 8 the Pacers topped the Heat 87-77 at +1.5 on the NBA betting lines at the sportsbooks. On February 1 the Pacers beat the Heat 102-89 at +2 to pay out on the NBA odds again.
Prior to those games the Heat had been on a 3-0 SU and ATS run against the Pacers.
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The Heat are also in action on Friday as they get a visit from the Philadelphia 76ers, with Indiana playing in Orlando against the Magic earlier in the night. Other notable NBA betting matchups on Friday are Utah at Chicago, Atlanta at Boston, and Houston at Golden State, while Saturday's slate has Brooklyn at Atlanta and Utah at New York.
Along with Pacers/Heat on Sunday there's also Chicago at the Lakers and Boston at Oklahoma City, with the Celtics upsetting the Thunder 108-100 at +2.5 at home on the NBA betting lines back on November 23. Overall the Celtics have had some success against the Thunder in the past few seasons, going 6-4 both SU and ATS in that span.
Saturday's college basketball betting slate has new No. 1 Gonzaga playing in their first game of the West Coast Conference tournament, while in three matchups between ranked teams it'll be No. 17 Syracuse at No. 5 Georgetown, No. 9 Kansas State at No. 13 Oklahoma State, and No. 24 Notre Dame at No. 8 Louisville. The Fighting Irish topped the Cardinals 104-101 as a 6.5-point home underdog in their February 9 game.
Also on Saturday is No. 3 Duke at unranked North Carolina, while on Sunday No. 7 Michigan plays host to No. 2 Indiana to wrap up their Big Ten regular-season schedule.
Finally, the Sprint Cup Series season continues on Sunday afternoon as Tony Stewart looks to take the checkered flag at the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the second year in a row. Carl Edwards won the Sprint Cup event at Las Vegas in both 2008 and 2011, while Jimmie Johnson took the checkered flag at the track four times between 2005 and 2010. Kyle Busch was the 2009 winner at the Nevada track.