Free NBA Picks and Odds: Miami Heat @ Chicago Bulls on TNT Preview and Expert Predictions – NBA Betting 2/24/11: All Star Dwayne Wade will lead the sizzling Miami Heat on the road to his hometown and the United Center to take on point guard Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night at 8:00 PM ET on TNT Sports. The Bulls are coming off a loss but have won 4 of their last 5 and enter the game at 38-16 – 1st in the Central – and currently the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference behind only the Celtics and Heat and have forward Joakim Noah back in the lineup after an extended injury absence. The Heat have won 11 of their last 12 and enter the contest at 42-15 – first in the Southeast – while basically tied with Boston atop the East and will have MVP LeBron James in the lineup as he sat out the loss the Heat suffered last month in Chicago.
Chris Bosh also sat out the latter portion of the earlier loss with an ankle injury. “We’re looking forward to it,” Bosh said of Thursday’s matchup. “For one, they’re one of the best teams in the East, really the league for that matter, and they’re playing well. We feel that we dropped a game when we played them in Chicago. We weren’t at 100 percent. They weren’t at 100 percent. Now it’s a different circumstance.” The odds makers at Bodog have the Miami Heat a -2 1/2 point favorite on the road against the Chicago Bulls.
The Heat are coming off a victory 117-97 at home over the Sacramento Kings to move to 28-28-1 ATS for the season. LeBron led the Heat scorers with 28 points 8 rebounds and 3 assists while Wade poured in 23 points with 8 boards and 7 dimes. Bosh added 22 points and 9 rebounds and Mario Chalmers chipped in with 14 points 3 boards and 4 assists. This game begins a streak of 13 games in which the Heat will square off against 12 potential playoff teams. Vegas odds makers have the Miami Heat +180 to win the 2010-2011 NBA Championship.
The Bulls are coming off a 118-113 loss on the road to the Toronto Raptors moving them to a very impressive 33-21-1 ATS. Rose led the way with 32 points and 10 assists and in his first game back Noah scored 7 points while also pulling down 16 rebounds. “It’s definitely not the result I wanted but we’ve just got to keep fighting,” Noah said of the loss. “We’ve got to come with a better edge.” The total has gone UNDER in 5 of last 6 games when playing at home against Miami. Vegas odds makers have the over/under for the total score at 192 points combined of the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls.
MATCHUP: Miami (42-15) at Chicago (38-17)
GAME TIME: 8:05 PM EST
TELEVISION: TNT
Recent Heat and Bulls Betting Odds Trends:
Miami: Over is 10-3 in MIA last 13 road games.
Over is 6-2 in MIA last 8 vs. Eastern Conference.
Over is 8-3 in MIA last 11 overall.
Chicago: CHI are 15-5-1 ATS in their last 21 home games.
Under is 15-7-1 in CHI last 23 Thu. games.
Head to Head: Under is 8-3 in the last 11 meetings.
NBA Odds from Las Vegas
Favorite: Miami -3
Total: O/U 190.5
NOTE: These are the Morning Lines at Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas
Rich Fritz’s Miami Heat @ Chicago Bulls Free NBA Picks:
Play Miami -2.5 by buying a 1/2 point
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