A crazy game 1 between Miami and Toronto its on the books, we now move to game 2, and see from an online betting perspective of what to expect.
After the Raptors collapsed in Overtime, despite having four grueling quarters of some fantastic basketball. Almost at 1 in the morning, all by himself, Kyle Lowry was shooting jumpshots in an empty arena. Just a couple of hours earlier a buzzer-beater he made from the logo, nearly made the thousands of fans at Air Canada Center nearly tear the roof off. The game was tied at 90. But, with a strong closing by Dwayne Wade during overtime sucked the energy right out of the room once more. The Heat stole Game 1 against the favorite Raptors.
Lowry, in particular, took this loss the hardest since being a star of the team, he has notoriously struggling with his perimeter shooting, dropping to a low 16% of effectiveness. DeMar DeRozan, the other star in the Raptor’s team also had a rough night. If the Raptors want to beat Miami, they need to turn things around and turn them quick. They are still the online betting favorites for game 2 at Toronto (-4½ at SBG Global Sportsbook), but the home court advantage is now all but gone, they must win on Thursday and win at least one game at Miami to keep things within reach. This loss also, comes as a bit of an unexpected blow for Toronto after they kept a solid 32-9 record playing at home. Plus, the Heat were not able to beat them at Toronto during the regular season.
On the winning side, Miami has benefited from a revitalized Dwyane Wade. After having an up and down series versus the Hornets, he had a great game 1 that should be enough to silence the critics. Also, Goran Dragic is rising up to the occasion with back to back great performances that have helped the Heat immensely. Online betting fans should take note that when Dragic is on the court, the Heat has a new offensive weapon that can complement Wade perfectly. And that Chemistry is going to be in high necessity for Game 2, as they know the raptors are coming out to get tat win by any means necessary. This game is going to be close and gritty, and probably not many points are going on the board so the Under (188½) is a great choice for online betting.
Despite being the favorites the Raptors are going against history. The have never reached the Eastern Conference Finals, and the only time they reached the second round they lost against the A.I’s Philadelphia 76ers in 2001. This team is under the pressure of making history.
The Miami Heat might be on course of taking the series according to recent stats, since they have won every single Playoff series where they won the first game since 2011. That time they lost against the Mavericks in the NBA Finals.
Game 2 promises to be a thrilling encounter, much like game 1. With the heat drawing first blood, our pick for online betting is that the Raptors will even the series and look to pull out a win out of Miami.