Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics Prop Pick: Can Al Horford Make it Rain from Deep in Game 5?
Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics Prop Pick: Can Al Horford Make it Rain from Deep in Game 5?
The Miami Heat travel to Boston facing elimination tonight. The Celtics are up 3–1 in this series and will be looking to close it out from the TD Garden tonight with tipoff at 7:30 PM ET. The Celtics have effectively dominated every single game they have won in this series, winning by double digits in each outside of the one game they have lost in the series so far. What should we expect in this one tonight?
MIAMI HEAT VS. BOSTON CELTICS GAME 5 DATE, TIME, AND WHERE TO WATCH
- Date: May 1, 2024
- Start Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
- Where to Watch: TNT
MIAMI HEAT VS. BOSTON CELTICS GAME 5 PREDICTION
The story coming into this game is the injury to Kristaps Porziņģis, the Celtics center. Porzingis sustained a calf injury in Game 4 and is expected to miss several games. Porziņģis came over to Boston from the Wizards last year and was an excellent addition to the Celtics offense. He scored 20.1 points per game this season and was a key piece to this rotation. Even though he is injured, I still expect the Celtics to win this game, but they will have to look at another center to do so. That’s where Al Horford comes in. Al Horford is the backup center for the Celtics, but will certainly see good minutes tonight for the team. Horford is a vet of the NBA and is in his 17th season in the league. This is his sixth season on the Celtics in his second stint with the team, and he brings them a veteran presence on the bench, but he also has a nasty jump shot still. Al Horford didn’t shoot many threes this season, but he shot 42% and averaged 1.7 threes per game during the regular season. His line in each game so far has been set at 1.5 threes, and it is once again tonight. With Porzingis out for this game, I think leaving this line at 1.5 is giving us some solid value. Horford’s minutes are bound to go up tonight, as we saw even in Game 4, with Horford starting the second half and reaching a series-high 34 minutes after Porzingis went down. Horford averaged 25 minutes per game this season in games with Porzingis and 30 minutes in games without Porzingis. In the 19 games Horford played without Porzingis this season, he had 2+ threes in 14 of them, or 74%. He also hit this in 11 of the last 15 games without Porziņģis.
Horford is 5–13 from three in the series, shooting 38% from the perimeter. He already hit this line in game one with a healthy Porzingis, leading me to believe he can easily do this without him. The Heat have to worry about Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and even Derek White, so Horford should get some good open looks from the perimeter throughout this game. I love the vet to come in and hit at least two threes tonight.
MIAMI HEAT VS. BOSTON CELTICS GAME 5 Prop Pick
Pick: Al Horford Over 1.5 Threes (-130) Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds
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Article Author
Ben Rajavuori is a handicapper out of Minneapolis, MN. He has been creating sports content for almost four years now and is an expert in all things NFL, MLB, NBA, UFC, and NCAAB. Ben thrives on diving deep into statistics to find the best angle on every bet. You can follow him on Twitter @WeBeatTheSpread.