Wednesday, April 20, 2016 | 11:25 a.m.
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We've reset the Play of the Day with fresh bankrolls and turned it into a yearly competition. Our three sports writers have re-started with $10,000 bankrolls to continue using on odds from the South Point.
Charlotte Hornets plus-4.5 at Miami Heat: $550 to win $500
The odds portrayed this as the most competitive first-round series coming into the NBA Playoffs a few days ago. One blowout win shouldn’t change that.
Miami crushed Charlotte 123-91 Sunday, leading the Heat to draw a shower of praise the likes of which they haven’t received since LeBron James had his talents in South Beach. Suddenly, pundits are pointing to Miami as the team that can take down Cleveland.
It’s time to slow down. A much larger sample than one playoff game shows Miami has its flaws, which are going to present themselves sooner rather than later.
The Heat aren't a good shooting team, and hitting nine of 18 three-pointers in Game 1 was an anomaly. Even though they should be able to recreate some of the offensive success they found with Hassan Whiteside against the Hornets’ poor interior defense, they aren’t going to shoot 57 percent two games in a row.
The Hornets are also likely to be more effective from the field than the 28-for-65 they put up in Game 1, while underrated coach Steve Clifford will implement necessary adjustments.
The Heat haven’t pulled away from the Hornets by any calculation. A series between two evenly matched teams will stretch on.
Current Standings (as of July 1): Brewer (45-36-2, $12,130), Bern (30-35, $7,315), Keefer (42-53-2, $6,340)
Lifetime standings: 2014-15 Champion Bern (109-109-1), Brewer (114-123-4), Keefer (125-135-4)
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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