Miami Heat at Houston Rockets - 12/31/21 NBA Picks and Prediction

Houston Rockets (10-25) vs Miami Heat (22-13)

Game Info: Friday, December 31, 2021 at 7:00 pm (Toyota Center)

Betting Odds: Houston Rockets +4.5 -- Over/Under: Click Here for the Latest Odds

The Miami Heat invade the Toyota Center to do battle with the Houston Rockets on Friday night.

The Miami Heat have been in great shape lately as they’ve won eight of their past 10 games and because they had their last game postponed, they will be looking to build on their current four-game win streak after taking down the Wizards in a 119-112 home win on Tuesday. Tyler Herro led the team with 32 points on nine of 19 shooting off the bench, Duncan Robinson drained eight 3-pointers on his way to 26 points while Jimmy Butler chipped in with 25 points and 15 assists. As a team, the Heat shot 44 percent from the field and 16 of 34 from the 3-point line as they dominated most of the game to lead by as many as 28 points, before holding off the Wizards in the fourth quarter to escape with the narrow win.

Meanwhile, the Houston Rockets have been in terrible shape as they’ve lost nine of their past 11 games and they will be hoping to put an end to a five-game slide after getting stopped by the Lakers in a 132-123 home win on Tuesday. Jalen Green led the team with 24 points, Christian Wood and Kevin Porter Jr. each scored 22 points while Josh Christopher chipped in with 14 points off the bench. As a team, the Rockets shot 53 percent from the field and 16 of 35 from the 3-point line as they kept pace with the Lakers until the second quarter where they started to fall behind. There was just no stopping the Lakers’ duo of LeBron James and Russell Westbrook who both racked up triple-doubles against them.

Looking at the betting trends, the Heat are 1-4 ATS in their last five games against a team with a losing record and 1-4 ATS in their last five games overall. The Rockets are 4-1 ATS in their last five games playing on two days’ rest, 16-38 ATS in their last 54 home games and 0-5 ATS in their last five games overall.

Head to head, the under is 4-0 in the last four meetings overall, the Heat are 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings in Houston and the Heat are 5-1 ATS in the last six meetings overall.

Jimmy Butler is listed as questionable, while Kyle Lowry and Duncan Robinson have both been ruled out for the Heat. The Rockets will be without Garrison Matthews, Jae’Sean Tate and Kenyon Martin Jr. The Heat are clearly the team in better form and they should be well-rested as they had their last game postponed, but they’re just missing so many key players, so a lot will depend on Herro in this one. The Rockets are a big chance of pulling off the upset here, but with the line so short, I’m sticking with the Heat to get the job done in this one.

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

Mitch's Take...

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