Heat vs Nets Game 3 Pick

Miami Heat vs. Brooklyn Nets

Game 3

Saturday 8:00 EST

May 10, 2014

Line: Miami -1.5

The Miami Heat have yet to lose a game in this postseason.

Off to their best start during the Big Three era, the Heat continue to successfully flip the switch when it comes to the postseason. The Heat are hungry for a three-peat and show no signs of slowing down after their sixth consecutive playoff win this year, and eighth over all. Over the first two games of the series, the Nets have been no match for Miami.

In Game 1, the difference was the points in the paint as Miami outscored the Nets by 24 points. In Game 2, although the Nets defense was vastly improved, the Heat scored 34 points in the paint, to the Nets’ 32. Looking to build on their defensive performance, the Heat continue to change shifts when the game is on the line. Miami changed gears in Game 1 at the start of the second half. Game 2 was a much different story. Unfortunately for Brooklyn, it was the same outcome. Although Brooklyn was able to keep LeBron James from getting a handful of points from the free throw line and in transition, the Nets were unable to take the Heat out of their game, as they did in the regular season.

But even with Mirza Teletovic’s setting a franchise playoff record with six 3-pointers, and winning the rebounding battle despite their smaller lineup, the Heat made the plays a championship team makes down the stretch of the games. The Nets managed to hang with the two-time defending champions, but if they plan on getting back into this series, they can ill-afford another brutal performance from Deron Williams, who finished 0 for 9. Last game was not the time for Williams to manage his first scoreless playoff game in his nine-year career or to mark the first time he has played at least 15 minutes without scoring a point.

Williams going scoreless in Game 2 was a key factor in the Nets’ inability to even the conference semifinals against the Heat, and will be a major factor in Game 3. Williams has been outplayed by the Heats’ guards, and despite some of the excellent passes he made, the Nets are going to need him to score. The Heat aren’t the same caliber team, as the Toronto Raptors and one player cannot carry the Nets to a victory. Joe Johnson was superb in that series, but his teammates are going to be just as good in this one. Some may say winning 4-of-5 against the Heat is almost impossible. The Nets can’t look at what lies ahead, otherwise the mountain they face will be too tough to climb. They must take one possession at a time, one quarter at a time and one game at a time. That game is Game 3.

It’s going to take a big game from Williams, Johnson and Paul Pierce to leave Barclays Center on Saturday night with a victory. Still searching for their first win of the series, it finally comes in Game 3. The Heat have been perfect thus far, and it certainly won’t be easy, but the Nets finally find a way to get the job done.

My Pick: Nets +1.5