The Heat is on in South Beach!!

[Betfair]

At the time of this writing, the board is Dallas Mavericks +5.5 (1.92, -109) and Miami Heat -5.5 (1.99, -101)


Heat are 7-1 ATS mark as a favorite
Mavericks are 3-10 ATS in their last 13 games after allowing 100 points in the previous contest

Dallas tallied a 112-103 home victory on Friday night to take a 3-2 advantage in the series and now seeks its first NBA Championship by winning one of two games in South Beach. The Mavericks finished the contest with a 15-3 run and shot 56.5 percent from the floor overall, including an incredible 68.4 percent on three-pointers. "We didn't want to go to Miami and give them basically two shots to close us out," said Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki. "So we kept plugging away in the fourth." Nowitzki led the team in scoring with 29 points and has continued his great shooting from the charity stripe, hitting 173-of-184 (.940) attempts from the line in the playoffs. Dallas is 33-17 ATS on the road this season.

The Mavericks enter tonight's contest knowing that of the previous 26 times the NBA Finals were tied 2-2, the winner of Game 5 has gone on to win the series 19 times. Dallas is 16-9 all-time in closeout games, including a 3-0 mark this postseason. Coach Rick Carlisle is also 10-3 all-time in closeout situations, including a perfect 4-0 mark with his current squad. One of the key ingredients to the squad's success over the last two games has been the insertion of guard J.J. Barea to the starting lineup, as he tallied 17 points in Game 5, marking the first time he's scored in double figures in the last five games. Barea started just two games during the 2010-11 regular season.

Continued: Basketball Picks