Heat – Wizards

The last day of the NBA regular season will see Miami Heat try and get the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, as they host a Washington which already knows it will finish 4th in the East.

Miami (40-41, 22-18 home) has been one of the best teams in the league in 2017, making an incredible turnaround after a very poor start to the season. However, that bad start is still dragging them down as Miami is currently looking likely to miss the playoffs. Nevertheless, the Heat (who won 3 of their last 4) still have a decent shot at finishing 8th in the East if they win this match against the Wizards.

Washington (49-32, 19-21 away) is already locked as a 4th seed in the Eastern Conference and they have nothing left to play for in this last match of the regular season. The Wizards have won 3 of their last 4 games, but their only defeat came at home against Miami. For this game, Washington is expected to sit out their important players:

Bet on MIA Heat vs WAS Wizards and get your 100% (100 €) bonus at Ohmbet now!

Team news:

Miami doesn`t have any new injury worries and will obviously play their best guys in arguably their most important match of the season.

Washington coach Scott Brooks stated that he will give a rest to almost everybody in this last match of the season. John Wall, Washington’s best player, is almost sure to sit out. Starters Beal and Morris stated that they will ask the coach to play, but all in all this is set to be a very weakened Washington team here.

If Miami are to reach the playoffs, they need to win this game, while also hoping for Bulls or Pacers to lose. The Bulls will almost surely win their game, but Indiana has a tricky game at home against Atlanta, a team whose bench played extraordinary well in the last few games. Miami has an honest shot to finish 8th so they will view this as their match of the season.

Washington is not a good road team and they are also limited in depth. Even in normal circumstances they would be massive underdogs in Miami without John Wall.

When you add the fact that many other players will be rested, along with the huge gap in focus / motivation, Miami becomes an overwhelming favorite here. Odds on a Heat win currently stand at 1.15, but the correct price would be 1.10 at most – and I expect it to go that way pretty fast.

The biggest (and pretty much only) argument against Miami covering the spread here is the fact that they are very often involved in extremely close games. 8 of Miami`s last 9 games were decided by 4 points or less – including two days ago when Miami beat a shorthanded Cleveland team by only 3.

However, in this last game of the season against an unmotivated and highly weakened Washington team, Miami should be able to finally win by a bigger margin. They are due one anyway after so many close victories.

If nothing out of the ordinary happens, like a few Wizards bench players all having the game of their lives, Washington should be no threat here. Being fully aware of Miami’s record of close games, I still believe they should be able to win this by 15-25 points. My tip is Miami to cover the 11 point spread and the line could get bigger pretty son. Prediction: Miami Heat – Washington Wizards 115 – 93.

Pick: Heat -11
Odds: 1.94 @ 1xBet
Stake: 10
Possible profit: 9.40
Event date: 12 April