NBA Playoffs 2012: Miami Heat vs. New York Knicks, Game 3 Betting Odds

The Miami Heat (2-0) and New York Knicks (0-2) will continue their best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, with the opening tip scheduled for 7:00 ET on TNT.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have established the Heat as five-point road favorites after winning the first two games by double-digit margins, while the total has held steady at 186.5.

Miami is being led offensively by LeBron James, who is averaging a team-high 25.5 points per game, which includes 19 in a 104-94 victory as 9.5-point home favorites in Game 2 on Monday night. The Heat have won 13 playoff games against the Knicks, which is the most for the franchise against any other NBA team.

Sports bettors will find that the Heat were 14-19 against the spread (ATS) on the road during the regular season, while the "over" was 18-15 in those contests.

New York has been written off by almost everyone in terms of coming back in this series, especially with forward Amar'e Stoudemire being out with a hand injury that was suffered after punching the glass case surrounding a fire extinguisher.

The Knicks desperately need to reach the century mark on the offensive end, posting a 23-7 mark when doing so this season, but have averaged averaged just 84.6 points in five overall meetings in this series during the 2011-12 campaign.

I believe this series is over in terms of which team is advancing into the second round, but the Knicks must be respected due to their 20-6 ATS record in their last 26 home games.

Should be an entertaining night in the Big Apple.