South Beach is going to party for a couple days before the 2012 NBA Finals resumes on Sunday night inside American Airlines Arena, as the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder are knotted at a game apiece in their best-of-seven series.
The Heat are currently four-point home favorites in the NBA betting odds for Game 3 (provided by SBR Forum), while the total is holding steady at 194.
Miami survived a late run by Oklahoma City in capturing a 100-96 win as 5.5-point road underdogs on Thursday night inside Chesapeake Energy Arena, with LeBron James leading a group of four double-digit scorers with 32 points. He has now scored 30-plus points in five consecutive postseason games, which is a new franchise record.
The Heat have tallied a 7-4 straight-up record when playing on two days rest, but have gone 5-5-1 against the spread in that situation, which includes a 105-94 setback as five-point underdogs in Game 1.
Oklahoma City no longer holds home-court advantage and will now play the next three games in Miami. The Thunder need to get off to a better start in order for that to happen, as they've been outscored by a combined 56-37 margin in the opening quarter in the first two contests.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are one of the best bounce-back duos in the league, posting a 38-9 record after an upset loss as a favorite over the last two-plus seasons, while the "under" has gone 12-4 in that situation during the 2011-12 campaign.
I'm anticipating a lower-scoring affair on Sunday, especially considering that the Heat have fallen short of the total in nine of their last 10 home games against an opponent with a winning road record.
