Expert Picks

Miami was on the road in Cleveland Tuesday night in the first half of their back to back slate. The Heat were 6-4 in their last 10 games and had won three straight after downing the Bulls 100-93 on Sunday afternoon on the road. Miami entered Tuesday eighth in the Eastern Conference, 6.5 games behind the Celtics for the top spot. The Heat was just a half-game ahead of the ninth-place Knicks for the final playoff spot in the East. Miami was tied with Washington atop the Southeast Division standings. The Heat was 6-4 on the road and 6-5 against Eastern Conference competition on the year.

New York lost their third straight and dropped to the .500 mark on the season as they were beaten at home by Portland. The Knicks now have to try and regroup to avoid dropping under the .500 mark. New York started slowly and things got worse: they were down seven after the opening quarter but saw that deficit balloon to 26 after three quarters before making a run in garbage time to make the final score more respectable. The Knicks shot only 39.8 percent from the floor and five of 15 from three point range to negate a 51-45 edge on the glass. Kristaps Porzingis had 22 points and seven boards to lead New York in the loss.

Miami is playing the second game of a back to back here, which may minimize the momentum of three straight wins. The Knicks are supposed to have Kanter back for this one after he missed the last three with back spasms. One has to wonder if we’ve seen the best of New York already and this is more the team that they are or not: it took an improbable 28-0 run against Toronto to not make this a longer skid than it is at the moment. With that said, Kanter being back changes the dynamic for the Knicks and that, plus being at home, gives them a slight edge here.

The Memphis Grizzlies have lost eight straight and will now look to turn the page after firing David Fizdale as head coach after the team lost to the Nets by 98-88 on Sunday. Tyreke Evans and Marc Gasol led the team in scoring with 18 points each while Chandle Parsons added 12 points, but in a game that was tied at halftime, the Grizzlies never recovered as the Nets went on a 15-2 run to start the third quarter to take the game away from them. With the loss, Memphis dropped to 7-12 on the season and 4-7 at home.

San Antonio struggled in the first half against Dallas with a seven-point deficit at the break. They rebounded with a strong second half to finish a 115-108 victory. They weren’t able to cover a nine-point spread, but they still avoided an embarrassing defeat to a bad Mavericks team. The Spurs hit 52.4 percent of their shots and went 19-for-21 from the charity stripe. They had a 43-40 rebounding edge and also led 21-11 in fast break points.

The Grizzlies have been in a major slump and they hit rock bottom on Sunday when they lost to the Nets, but they will be looking to turn the page with the firing of Fizdale, so look for them to come out strong. However, I don’t think it will be enough as the Spurs have just been rock-solid at home and should be better with Parker now having one game under his belt.