Those who bet on NCAA basketball don’t have to worry about seeing a player come back to face their former team, but that’s been a prevalent theme in the NBA this year after last summer’s free-agent sweepstakes and the Miami Heat have been at the heart of that. On Wednesday, it’s Chris Bosh’s turn as he and the Heat will be in Toronto to face the Raptors.
Heat Raptors Betting – Wednesday, 7:00 PM ET
The Heat still have to play in Indiana on Tuesday night, and they will be coming off an 85-82 loss in Boston on Sunday and again it was an issue of the Heat not being able to execute down the stretch. Bosh had 24 points and 10 rebounds, while LeBron James added 22 points, seven boards and seven assists for the Heat, who shot 41.9% from the field, including a miserable 3-of-16 from beyond the arc. At the trade deadline NHL teams will be looking for players who don’t get pressured down the stretch, and that may not be the case for Miami, but it has to be something. Maybe they’re still trying to figure out how James and Dwyane Wade will work together, but something has to give soon because the Heat are now 0-3 against the Celtics this season.
The Raptors were fortunate to play a team that also couldn’t execute in crunch time on Sunday in a 98-93 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, as the Clippers fell apart in the fourth quarter and should have won this game. We can’t take all the credit away from the Raptors, who got 27 points from Andrea Bargnani, while Jose Calderon had 10 points and 11 assists. The Raptors didn’t play all that well and haven’t really since they let Bosh walk, but they’re a young team who has battled injuries, and they don’t give up on a game. That’s going to be needed when they face a team like the Heat.
Your pay per head sportsbook will likely favor the Heat on the road in Toronto, where they are 1-4 SU and 2-3 ATS in their last five visits, but they didn’t have James and Bosh in those games. Bosh will likely get some advice from James on his return to Cleveland, and while this won’t be as bad, Bosh will get a lot of boos (and maybe worse) from the team he walked away from, although it probably won’t be as bad as Vince Carter’s subsequent returns to Toronto. The Heat are 10-3 SU in the second half of back-to-back games, they’ve feasted on teams that are below .500 this year and we think that the Heat have started to relish their roles as the villains. We don’t know if Bosh will play well, but we know that James and Wade will step up for their teammate, so take the Miami Heat in your online sportsbook on Wednesday.
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