JEFF ALLEN GAME PREVIEW: MIAMI at TORONTO GAME SIX
With the Oklahoma City Thunder dispatching the San Antonio Spurs in six games last night, three of the four NBA conference
semi finals have been decided. The one remaining series find the Toronto Raptors holding a 3-2 lead over the Miami Heat with
Game Six tonight in Miami and the well rested top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers lying in wait. This has been a heard fought series
with the five games being decided by just 29 points with three overtimes. The basketball has been hard to watch and the physical
play has resulted in injuries to several key players. Tonight’s line opened at Miami -4.5 with the total set at 190. Raptor and Under
money has the number Miami -4 and 189 at this writing.
Toronto got off to a fast start in Game Five and never looked back in handling the Heat 94-87 North of the Border. The Raptors are
a guard-centric team that features DeMar DeRozan (23.5, 4.5, 4.0) and Kyle Lowry (21.1, 4.4, 6.7). The shooting woes of this duo in
the playoffs has been well documented but at this point the Raptors have no place left to go. DeMarre Carrol (11.0, 4.1, 1.0), last
summer’s big money free agent acquisition from Atlanta who played in just 26 games due to injuries, is questionable with a bruised
wrist. With the urgency and with what’s at stake, hard to imagine that he would not go here. Center Jonas Valanciunas (15.1, 12.0
in the playoffs) murdered the Heat in Games 1-3 but is out for the series with a high ankle sprain.
Miami has been riding Dwayne Wade (21.8, 5.8, 4.3 playoffs) as far as it can and the future HOFer has been getting little to no help
from the remaining Heat players. Miami big man and defensive stopper in the paint Hassan Whiteside (12.0, 10.9) is out for the
series with a knee sprain and with Wade and Whiteside off the court at the court at the same time, the Heat look like a rudderless
ship. Luol Deng (14.3, 6.7) has been bothered by a sore wrist and is probable. The Heat need a big game from Goran Dragic (15.4,
4.6, 3.6) who could really help out on offense by knocking down the open looks he’ll get tonight that he has missed in the first five
games of the series.
The home team has won ten of the L14 in the series. Toronto has lost three of of it’s last for road games while Miami has only split
its last four games. Toronto has seen 10 of its L13 games go Under the total, eight of the L10 Miami games have also gone Under the
total. Kyle Lowry went for 33 points on this floor in Game III but is 21-71 from the floor in the other four. Miami always seems to play
it’s best ball with their backs against the wall and that’s the case tonight. There is no insight in saying the team that shoots the ball the
best will win but in an elimination game like this, expect both teams to be deliberate and tight with a low scoring game being decided
in the final two minutes.