Miami Heat at Milwaukee Bucks - 5/22/21 NBA Picks and Prediction

Milwaukee Bucks (46-26) vs Miami Heat (40-32)

Game Info: Saturday, May 22, 2021 at 2:00 pm (Fiserv Forum)

Betting Odds: Milwaukee Bucks -5.5 -- Over/Under: 229 Click Here for the Latest Odds

The Miami Heat and the Milwaukee Bucks collide in Game 1 at the Fiserv Forum on Saturday night.

The Miami Heat are coming into the playoffs with plenty of momentum as they won eight of their last 10 games in the regular season to finish with the sixth seed. In a season marred with injuries, Jimmy Butler led the team with averages of 21.5 points, 6.9 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 2.1 steals per game, Bam Adebayo averaged 18.7 points with 9.0 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game, Tyler Herro averaged 15.1 points and 3.4 assists while Duncan Robinson averaged 13.1 points per game. As a team, the Heat scored an average of 108.1 points per game while shooting 46.8 percent from the field and 35.8 percent from the 3-point line. Victor Oladipo was the big trade for the Heat, but he has played just four games this season while Goran Dragic is a key player who was restricted to just 50 games this season due to injuries.

Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Bucks will be confident heading into the playoffs as well as they won six of their last seven games of the regular season to finish with the third seed in the Eastern Conference. Giannis Antetokounmpo has led the team with averages of 28.1 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.2 blocks per game, Khris Middleton averaged 20.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game, Jrue Holiday averaged 17.7 points and 6.1 assists per game while Brook Lopez averaged 12.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. As a team, the Bucks scored an average of 120.1 points per game while shooting 48.7 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from the 3-point line.

Looking at the betting trends, the Heat are 5-1 ATS in their last six road games, 4-1 ATS in their last five playoff games as an underdog and 5-1 ATS in their last six games overall. The Bucks are 5-1 ATS in their last six games against a team with a winning record, 3-0-1 ATS in their last four Conference Quarterfinals games and 1-6 ATS in their last seven games overall.

Head to head, the under is 11-5 in the last 16 meetings overall.

The Bucks will be fired up for these playoffs after an early exit from the playoffs last season and they are definitely a stronger unit with Jrue Holiday now running the point. The Heat were the surprise team from last season’s playoffs and even though they’ve had to grit their way through a tough season littered with injuries, they’ve managed to peak at just the right time to make another deep playoff run. Both teams are coming into this series with plenty of momentum, so it’s just about who will execute on the day. I think the Bucks draw first blood in this series, but I’m taking the Heat with the points as I think this one is going down to the wire.

The pick in this article is the opinion of the writer, not a PickDawgz site consensus.

Mitch's Take...

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