NBA: Portland Trail Blazers at Miami Heat
Greg Oden started at center against his former team. The big man finished with 4 points, 3 rebounds and a steal Reuters

Both the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers have struggled of late. That’s not stopping them East powerhouse teams in going at each other’s throats when they face one another in a marquee match-up on Wednesday at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indiana.

The Heat and Pacers have exactly the same mediocre record in the month of March: just splitting their past 14 games with 7 wins against 7 losses.

While Miami is coming off a home win over the Portland Trail Blazers, 93-91 in their last game, Indiana suffered back-to-back losses in their last two road games—falling to the Memphis Grizzlies, 82-71 and Chicago Bulls, 89-77.

Curiously, the East contenders’ struggles have come from opposite ends of the spectrum. Miami is giving up 103.8 points per game in their seven losses this month—a clear sign that the defending champions’ problem is their defense.

Meanwhile, Indiana is averaging a measly 85.3 PPG in their losses this month as opposing teams took advantage of the Pacers’ offensive lull in this stretch.

LeBron James had 32 points in the Portland win as the Heat also got contributions from Chris Bosh (15 points and 8 rebounds) and Chris Andersen (13 points).

The Pacers only scored 77 in their last outing and most of their stars struggled from the floor. Paul George had 21 points (8/22 FG), David West had 14 points (4/12 FG) and Lance Stephenson had 8 points (3/9 FG).

Watch the Heat-Pacers match-up via the NBA League Pass.

Betting Against the Spread (ATS)

Miami Heat Trends
 - The Heat are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games
- The Heat are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games vs. East teams
- The Heat are 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games vs. Central division teams

Indiana Pacers Trends
 - The Pacers are 6-20-1 ATS in their last 27 games
- The Pacers are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games at home
- The Pacers are 2-10-1 ATS in their last 23 games vs. East teams