NBA Betting Tips: Miami to feel heat against Philly

One of our two selections managed to land yesterday, but now our attention turns to the Eastern Conference play-in tournament, as the Philadelphia 76ers host the Miami Heat to determine the seventh seed, while Chicago and Atlanta will lock horns in a loser-goes-home contest. Both games will be broadcast live on TNT Sports 1.

Those two games are the focus of our NBA betting tips for Wednesday, and we've picked out a couple of bets for the occasion.

Philadelphia 76ers -4.5 vs Miami Heat @ 5/6

The Sixers and the Heat will go head-to-head on Wednesday to determine the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference, while the loser will play an elimination game on Friday against either the Chicago Bulls or Atlanta Hawks for the eighth seed - and the right to play the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round of the play-offs.

Philly finished the season on an eight-game winning streak, propelled by the return of their star center Joel Embiid, who has missed two months of the regular season with a torn meniscus. Embiid has seamlessly re-joined the lineup, averaging over 30 points-per-game since his comeback, and he may be too much for Miami to handle here.

While Miami’s playoff experience can’t be discounted - they made the Finals from this position last season - the Heat limp into the postseason having dealt with a plethora of injuries and inconsistent play all year round.

Miami usually do a decent job of slowing down Embiid, mainly through the defensive presence of Bam Adebayo, but the addition of savvy veterans like Kyle Lowry and sharpshooter Buddy Hield are the difference-makers in matches like these.

It feels like things are clicking at just the right time for the 76ers, while Miami will need to be on top of their game to win here, in my opinion.

Chicago Bulls -3.5 vs Atlanta Hawks @ 10/11

The loser of this contest will be sent packing, while the winner will advance to Friday's elimination contest against either the 76ers or the Heat.

The Hawks finished the regular season in terrible form with six consecutive losses, but Wednesday's encounter offers them an opportunity to reset and potentially go on a postseason run.

Atlanta's effort on defense was nowhere to be seen in Sunday's regular-season finale against Indiana but they will be encouraged by the fact that they managed to beat the Bulls earlier in the season in Chicago.

The Bulls, meanwhile, closed out the regular season with a narrow defeat at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks, battling until the very end.

Chicago have successfully covered the spread in four of their last six games overall, and when the Bulls are the favourites they usually win - in their last 20 games, they’re 13-7 straight up.

Although, they haven't lived up to expectations this season, I have to side with Chicago here as they're the team in much better form.

Check out the rest of our NBA Betting Tips here.