Written by Thomas | Friday, March 18th, 2011

On Friday night, the Miami Heat will take on the Atlanta Hawks in a big National Basketball Association game featuring two teams from the Eastern Conference. These two teams are both heading to the postseason. Currently, the Heat are the third seed in the conference, and would host the New York Knicks in the first round. Atlanta comes into the game as the fifth seed. If the playoffs started today, Atlanta would head to Orlando, to battle with the Magic.

The Heat are coming off a tough loss to Oklahoma City on Wednesday night. The Heat got 21 points and 11 rebounds from former Raptors big man Chris Bosh. Bosh is the Heat’s leading rebounder, but former Cavaliers star LeBron James is the leading scorer. James is scoring 26 points per game and dishing out 7 assists per game. The Heat are 9th in total points per game, as they are averaging 101.5 points per game. Miami has been very good on the defensive end, allowing 94.5 points per game.

The Heat are just one win away from matching their win total from a season ago. The Heat are 3.5 games behind both the Bulls and the Celtics for the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Atlanta Hawks are coming off a loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night. The loss for Atlanta sent them 3.5 games behind the Magic and 7 games behind the Heat in the division. ATlanta ranks as the 25th highest scoring team in the league, scoring 95.5 points per game. Atlanta is allowing 95.1 points per game, which is 8th in the league.

Joe Johnson and Al Horford both made the all star team in the Eastern Conference. Johnson is scoring 19 points per game, while Horford is grabbing 9.7 rebounds per game.

This should be a fun game between two talented teams from the East. Look for James, Wade and Bosh to be too much for the Hawks.

Our pick: Miami Heat -4.5.

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