Miami Heat Open As Solid Favorite To Hold Off Brooklyn Nets

The Miami Heat will host the reeling Brooklyn Nets Saturday at the FTX Arena and is the overwhelming favorite to prevail.

The hosts are -5.5 spread favorite to prevail over the Nets, who are currently on a five-game losing slide. The moneyline for this matchup is -216 for Miami and +179 for Brooklyn, according to USA Today.

The two teams have met twice so far this NBA regular season, with the Nets winning on both occasions. It would be additional motivation for the Heat to register its third straight win when it faces its Eastern Conference rival.

Miami is coming off a win over the New York Knicks, 127-120. Jimmy Butler led the way for the South Beach squad Wednesday night with 35 points and nine assists.

Backing up the All-Star forward was Tyler Herro, who had 22 points and four assists.

"Fourth quarter is winning time," Herro said post-game, according to ESPN. "That's when my scoring is needed most."

A win by the Heat would also give them some distance from the Nets. Miami (40-34) is just half a game ahead of the Nets, who are at 39-34 in the Eastern Conference standings.

For their part, the Nets are looking for a win to snap their losing ways.

In their last game, Brooklyn fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 114-116, Thursday night.

It was a tough loss for the Nets after Isaac Okoro made a three-pointer with 0.7 seconds remaining in the game.

"It's frustrating," Mikal Bridges said, according to a report from ESPN. "Obviously, we've got to keep the energy and morale high, but it's devastating losing like that."

Bridges led the Nets' losing cause with 32 points and six rebounds. Spencer Dinwiddie added 25 points and 12 assists in that loss.

"I felt like we deserved to win that game because we did a lot of good things throughout the course of the night," Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said. "This is an opportunity for us to learn who we are."

The Nets face a tall order trying to cover the spread and hopefully snap their five-game losing skid.

Brooklyn and Miami will battle it out at the FTX Arena, with tip-off set for 8 p.m. EDT Saturday. The game will be shown over Bally Sports, with live streaming also available via FuboTV.