Miami Heat at Boston Celtics - 9/25/20 NBA Picks and Prediction

Miami Heat (55-31) at Boston Celtics (57-30)

NBA Basketball: Friday, September 25, 2020 at 8:30 pm (AdventHealth Arena)

The Line: Boston Celtics -3 -- Over/Under: 213 Click Here for the Latest Odds

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The Miami Heat and Boston Celtics meet Friday in game five of the Eastern Conference Finals NBA playoffs at the AdventHealth Arena.

The Miami Heat will advance to their first NBA Finals since 2013-14 with a victory here. The Miami Heat are averaging 111.5 points on 45.2 percent shooting and allowing 105.7 points on 45.4 percent shooting. Goran Dragic is averaging 21.3 points and 4.5 assists while Jimmy Butler is averaging 20.8 points and 5.8 rebounds. Bam Adebayo is the third double-digit scorer and Tyler Herro is dishing 3.9 assists. The Miami Heat are shooting 36.2 percent from beyond the arc and 82.2 percent from the free throw line. The Miami Heat are allowing 35 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 43.5 rebounds per game.

The Boston Celtics need a victory here to save their season and force a game six on Sunday. The Boston Celtics are averaging 108.3 points on 45.6 percent shooting and allowing 102.7 points on 41.3 percent shooting. Jayson Tatum is averaging 25.5 points and 10.2 rebounds while Jaylen Brown is averaging 21.1 points and 2.2 assists. Kemba Walker is the third double-digit scorer and Marcus Smart is grabbing 4.9 rebounds. The Boston Celtics are shooting 34.4 percent from beyond the arc and 81.3 percent from the free throw line. The Boston Celtics are allowing 31.1 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 45.1 rebounds per game.

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The Heat are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games playing on 1 days rest, 6-2 ATS in their last 8 games as an underdog and 11-2 ATS in their last 13 games overall. The Celtics are 7-1-1 ATS in their last 9 games following a ATS loss and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 Conference Finals games. The over is 4-1 in Heat last 5 games as an underdog. The under is 12-5 in Celtics last 17 overall. The Heat are 7-1 ATS in the last 8 meetings in Boston and 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings.

Every game of this series has come down to the wire, so it's not crazy to think the Celtics can win this thing and push it to the business end of the series. However, I had the Heat winning this series before it started and they've cashed now in the underdog role three of the first four games. As long as we continue to get the Heat as an underdog against the Celtics, I'm taking it. The Heat are the deeper team and that continues to be more of an advantage the more these teams play. Give me the free bucket, as the Heat have a great chance to make their sixth final appearance in franchise history.

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