NBA Best Bet of the Day: Miami Heat scorch Indiana Pacers early

Looking at the best NBA bets to make each day, today we zero in on the Miami Heat vs. the Indiana Pacers.

There are incredible games scheduled to tip-off in the NBA on Monday. We’ll see a meeting between the 1- and 2-seeds in the East when the Milwaukee Bucks play the Toronto Raptors plus a game between Western Conference powerhouses when the Denver Nuggets face the Los Angeles Lakers.

BetMGM Sportsbook has NBA odds and NBA props for all bubble games so we’re bringing you the best bet for every day of the NBA action.

The Miami Heat (-139) First Quarter vs. Indiana Pacers

The Heat and Pacers meet up for the third time this season for what is a much-anticipated rematch between SF TJ Warren and SF Jimmy Butler. In the Jan. 8th meeting, Butler and Warren had an on-court conflict that ended with Warren being ejected. Butler then talked trash to reporters and on social media after the game. 

Butler has missed the last three games and PG Goran Dragic missed the  Heat’s last game as well — a 119-112 loss to the Phoenix Suns. Butler is Miami’s leading scorer and Dragic is its second-leading scorer, so needless to say, but the Heat’s offense should be more potent.


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Major reasons the first-quarter moneyline of HEAT (-139) is the “Best Bet of the Day” is because of how well Miami has opened games in the restart, and in the rest of the regular season. 

The Heat have outscored their opponents in four of the five first quarters they’ve played in the bubble. The average margin of those first quarters was 3.4 points (Miami averages 28.8 points and their opponent 25.4 points per first quarter over the last five games).

In the regular season, Miami outscored their opponents by the exact same margin, which was the second-best in the NBA. Indiana had an 18th ranked -.4 point margin after the first quarter in the regular season.

Expect Butler to get going early since he has always played with a chip on his shoulder and he’s returning from injury so he should be at his freshest early.

New to sports betting? A $139 bet on the Heat (-139) to win the first-quarter returns a $100 profit if Miami outscores Indiana in the first quarter of Monday’s meeting.

Get some action on this game or others by placing a legal NBA bet in CO, IN, NJ and WV at BetMGM Sportsbook.

For more NBA sports betting tips and advice, visit SportsbookWire. Follow @Geoffery_Clark on Twitter, and follow SportsbookWire on Twitter and Facebook.

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