Miami Heat vs Boston Celtics Prediction & Betting Tips - NBA

Prediction published on 18/09/2020, 08:37  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 18/09/2020 at 09:38 in Basketball Predictions

The Boston Celtics go into the third match of this Eastern Conference final in big trouble. It's the best of seven and they have lost the first two games to Miami Heat. Another loss here will mean they have to win four in a row to reach the NBA final against either the LA Lakers or Denver Nuggets. It's a situation that the Celtics really shouldn't be in. The first match saw them 12 points ahead going into the final quarter. They blew that lead and ended up losing 117-114 after overtime. 

It was much the same story in the second match. Boston led by 13 points at half time and it looked as if they were going to make it 1-1. Then came the third quarter and Miami bounced back in that one winning it by 20 points. They could only pull back a couple of points in the final quarter and that was it, the Miami Heat were 2-0 up against the side seeded two places above them. Boston know that they can dominate quarters and build good leads, it's just keeping them that is the hard task at present. If they can sort that out, then they can win this match and at 2-1 down, that sets us up for a storming fourth match. Make the same mistakes again and the Heat will have one foot in the final. Stopping Goran Dragic is a key task for the Celtics. He's scored 54 points in the first two games, though he did drop to 25 in the second.  Gordon Hayward is likely making his return for the Celtics in this game, that and the desire to get back into this final tips the balance in the favour of Boston.