Heat vs. Celtics: Miami Closes out Short Road Trip in Beantown

The Miami Heat (37-13) will close out a short two-game road trip against Eastern Conference opponents when taking on the Boston Celtics (29-22) inside the TD Garden on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. EDT in a nationally-televised event on ABC.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have opened up the Heat as 3.5-point favorites—due to winning three consecutive games in the series, while the total sits at 186.5.

Miami struggled at times to put away the Toronto Raptors in its last contest, finally pulling away for a 113-101 win as seven-point road favorites on Friday night.  The Heat also went "over" the total for a third consecutive game.

This will be the second of four matchups between these rivals during the 2011-12 season, with Heat forward LeBron James leading the way with a team-high 26 points in a 115-107 win as 9.5-point home favorites on Dec. 27.

It was an impressive victory for numerous reasons, but none more important than just coming off an 11-point road victory over the defending champion Dallas Mavericks two days earlier to open the season, exacting revenge from coming up short in the 2011 NBA finals.

Sports bettors will find that the favorite is 6-1 against the spread (ATS) in the last seven meetings in this series, but the Heat are 1-6 ATS in their last last seven trips to Boston.

The Celtics are certainly flying under the radar despite holding a one-game lead over the Philadelphia 76ers in the Atlantic division.

An aging roster has many experts predicting an early exit from this year's playoffs, but the team has been playing some of its best basketball of the season, winning six of seven games.

Don't be surprised if this home underdog ends up covering this number, with Boston covering eight of 10 Sunday games this year.

Early Prediction: Boston Celtics +3.5