Portland Trail Blazers vs Miami Heat Prediction, 3/29/2024 Preview and Pick

Game: Portland Trail Blazers vs Miami Heat

Date: Friday, March 29, 2024

Location: Kaseya Center in Miami, FL

TV: Bally Sports Sun

The Miami Heat (39-33) are hosting the Portland Trail Blazers (19-54) at Kaseya Center on Friday.

The Trail Blazers took the court against the Hawks and took a loss by a score of 120-106 in their last game. Portland walked away from the contest with a 50.6% field goal percentage (43 of 85) and converted 14 out of their 31 3-point shots. At the charity stripe, the Trail Blazers buried 6 of 10 shots for a rate of 60.0%. Regarding grabbing rebounds, they compiled a total of 33 with 6 of them being on the offensive end. They also recorded 35 assists for the game while forcing the opposition into 16 turnovers and having 8 steals. When it comes to defense, Portland let their opponent shoot 51.8% from the field on 44 out of 85 shooting. Atlanta earned 23 assists and had 12 steals for the matchup. In addition, Atlanta snagged 41 rebounds (8 offensive, 33 defensive) and added 2 blocked shots. Atlanta finished the game shooting 80.0% from the charity stripe by making 16 of 20 attempts. They made 16 out of their 41 attempts from 3-point range. In reference to fouls, the Trail Blazers finished with 18 while the Hawks accounted for 17 fouls.

Dalano Banton is one player who was a major contributor in this matchup. Banton shot 56.5% from the field and earned 9 dimes. He was on the court for 37 minutes and also snagged 5 rebounds. He ended up with 31 points on 13 of 23 shooting.

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Portland enters this contest with a win-loss record of 19-54 so far this season. They currently have an average of 107.6 points per contest (28th in basketball) while going 44.4% from the field. The Trail Blazers are shooting 35.3% on shots from 3-point land (853 of 2,417) and 79.3% from the free throw line. As a team, Portland is grabbing 41.9 rebounds per game and has tallied 1,684 dimes on the year, which is 30th in basketball in terms of passing the ball. They turn it over 15.2 times per contest and as a team are committing 20.4 fouls per contest.

Defensively, the Trail Blazers are able to force 14.6 turnovers per game and they draw 18.1 fouls. They concede 35.3% on 3-point shots while they are 17th in the NBA in PPG allowed (115.8). The Trail Blazers defense is giving up a field goal percentage of 49.2% (3,117 of 6,340) and they relinquish 43.8 rebounds per game as a group. They currently rank 20th in the league in giving up assists to their opponents with 1,975 conceded so far this season.

When they last stepped on the hardwood, the Heat took a loss by a final score of 113-92 when they played the Warriors. The Heat earned 28 defensive boards and 11 offensive rebounds for a total of 39 in the game. They gave up possession 8 times, while recording 3 steals in this contest. The Warriors were called for 20 fouls for the matchup which got the Heat to the charity stripe for 13 shots. They were able to bury 10 of the free throw attempts for a percentage of 76.9%. In relation to shots from downtown, Miami converted 8 of their 33 attempts (24.2%). At the conclusion of this game, the Heat ended up going 37 out of 92 from the field which gave them a rate of 40.2%. The Heat permitted the Warriors to make 47 of 85 attempts from the field which left them shooting 55.3% in the game. They finished the game shooting 34.2% from three-point range by going 13 out of 38 and walked away from this one shooting 6 of 10 from the free throw line (60.0%). When talking about attacking the glass, Miami allowed Golden State to get 43 in total (7 on the offensive side).

Bam Adebayo ended up being important for the Heat for this contest. He converted 10 of 21 in this game for a field goal percentage of 47.6%, and totaled 9 rebounds. Adebayo totaled 24 points in his 39 mins of playing time and accounted for 5 dimes for this game.

Miami has a win-loss record of 39-33 this year. The Heat commit 17.4 personal fouls per contest and they connect on 81.4% from the free throw line. They are dishing out assists 25.6 times per contest (22nd in the league) and they turn it over 12.5 times per contest. Miami has accounted for 7,871 points on the year (109.3 per game) and they grab 42.1 boards per game. As an offensive unit, the Heat are shooting 46.2% from the floor, which is 25th in basketball.

The Heat defensively are ranked 4th in the league in points given up per game with 108.9. They are forcing 13.7 TO's per game and have allowed teams to shoot 47.1% from the field (13th in the league). The Miami defense surrenders 36.1% on 3-point attempts (955 of 2,645) and their opponents are making 77.4% of their shots from the free throw line. They give up 26.7 dimes and 42.9 boards every game, which is ranked 15th and 12th in the NBA.

Who will win tonight's NBA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Portland

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