NBA Betting – TNT Thursday Double-Header Preview

While the Super Bowl line is the talk around the water cooler, the NBA will have a couple of key games on Thursday night for the TNT double-header. We’ll see another Dwyane Wade-LeBron James battle in the early game and in the late showdown, the San Antonio Spurs will try to gain some ground in the Western Conference as they visit Portland. Here is a preview of both games.

Heat vs Cavaliers Betting Odds
Quicken Loans Arena – 8:00 PM ET

The Miami Heat are struggling right now and a back-to-back trip to Boston and Cleveland – two of the elite teams in the NBA – isn’t exactly the cure for their woes.

Dwyane Wade, Jermaine O’Neal and Udonis Haslem are all dealing with back spasms while point guard Mario Chalmers is out with a finger injury.

The Heat are reeling right now and have fallen down the standings in the Eastern Conference and while they are beaten down mentally and physically, facing the Cavaliers is not the answer.

The Cavaliers are 20-3 at home this year and overall, they have lost just six times in the last two months. They are on a nine-game winning streak right now and are flat-out rolling. While the Wade-LeBron matchup is enticing, the truth is that LeBron has a team around him and online betting cappers know that Wade simply does not right now.

That will again be the difference on Thursday.

Pick: Cavaliers

Spurs vs Trail Blazers betting odds
Rose Garden – 10:30 PM ET

The San Antonio Spurs are on their Rodeo Road Trip, which typically bonds the team each year. They’ll need it big time this year as they have been a big disappointment so far this year. They were expected to be a powerhouse, especially with the addition of Richard Jefferson, but they simply don’t have the magic at 27-19. They are just 4-6 in their last 10 games and the big concern is that they have played just 17 road games this year – by far, the fewest in the NBA.

The Trail Blazers have also been a disappointing team this year as their young squad was expected to take the next step forward. They added point guard Andre Miller and were expecting growth from Greg Oden, but with Oden out for the year and Miller taking a lot of time to mesh, the Trail Blazers have been a medium team in the West.

Even so, it’s tough to bet on the Trail Blazers while Brandon Roy is out. He’s nursing a hamstring injury, which obviously affects the lines in the sportsbook. Look for the Spurs to pull out an important road win and get their big road trip off to a good start.

Pick: Spurs