NBA 2022/23, Tuesday, 15.11.2022
The duel between the Miami Heat and the Phoenix Suns is one with a strong playoff flavour. After all, the two franchises meet after finishing last year’s regular season in first place in their respective divisions.
However, the Suns are still missing Chris Paul, so I expect the home side to come out on top. All the background and important info on this game is provided to readers free of charge in my Heat Suns tip.
Phoenix is dreaming of a return to the NBA throne. To make that easier, the front office seems to be toying with a trade of LeBron James from the Lakers – after all, the purple and gold are going haywire at the moment.
But to pull off such a trade, Phoenix would have to ship 32.4 million worth of player salaries to the West Coast in return. Deandre Ayton and some draft picks as part of a possible package perhaps?
Personally, I wouldn’t go for such a swap, as great as the temptation might be. After all, the NBA icon is more injury-prone than ever and with an 8-4 record, they’re off to a good start to the new season as it is.
While I expect the Suns to be up front again this year, they are nowhere near as good without Chris Paul right now. After all, CP3 enjoys the same status in Phoenix as LeBron James does in Los Angeles.
Moreover, the recent 97-114 loss to the Magic was a shock, even with the current line-up. In that game, Orlando’s entire starting five even managed to score in double figures.
This defeat does not bode well for tonight. Miami is the worse team out of the starting blocks, but they just won a doubleheader against the Hornets, which obviously boosted their morale.
What makes me confident that Miami will win tonight has to do with their convincing performance against Charlotte itself and their tremendous nerve from the free throw line.
According to *the official NBA statistics site, the Heat are the best free-throw team in the league with a success rate of 86.7%. That ability could serve them well against the Suns, as the Arizonans are prone to infractions quite often.
https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/traditional?dir=A&sort=FT_PCT
Because averaging 21.5 fouls per game, the Suns are much more unsportsmanlike this season than they were last year. Especially against the Heat’s bulky duo of Adebayo and Strus, Arizona might again only know how to help themselves with fouls.
Speaking of Strus and Adebayo: In the win over the Hornets, the two currently best players of the Floridians scored a total of 55 points and made Charlotte hell especially on the board – so it can also work against the Suns.
By the way: Miami is currently desperately looking for a new sponsor for its own venue. Since the crypto giant FTX recently went bankrupt, it needs a new name sponsor for its own stadium.
The fact that the upcoming game will once again be played in Florida is not an advantage, at least not statistically. The Suns – despite their current personnel problems – have won each of their last four guest games here.
Notwithstanding my slight favouritism towards the home side, there is no denying that tonight’s top-of-the-table clash will be a game on a knife edge.
There are many indicators of this – including the Heat Suns betting odds from the best sportsbooks, which however also indicate that they see the Floridians as having a slight edge.
This is therefore not a stalemate in terms of the odds, as Miami’s success will be handed an average of 1.76 over the counter at the local betting shop, while the reverse will be around 2.10.
What is also currently being “handed” over the counter at the local betting shop is one or two great World Cup 2022 bonus offers for the upcoming major football event in the desert state of Qatar.
Summary: The Suns have the slightly better record, but their upcoming opponent seems to have picked up steam in the meantime.
In the doubleheader against the Hornets, the Heat showed their best side to the fans, while Phoenix just suffered an embarrassing defeat against the Magic, a franchise that can be classified as weak.
While the Arizonans have won each of their last four visiting games in Miami, the absence of CP3 and the heavy penchant for fouls makes me think a loss in this top-of-the-table game is very likely.
My Heat Suns tip: Home side to win.
