Miami Heat Continue Historical Longshot NBA Championship Run
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Two months into the season, no one was discussing the Miami Heat as potential NBA champions.
The team was just 12-5 and plagued by offensive inconsistencies that would remain persistent throughout the season.
"I think that we found the value in the grind of a regular season," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after Monday’s 109-101 Game 4 win over the New York Knicks to take a 3-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals. "In the grind and the struggle. I've said that repeatedly. We found a beauty in that struggle, but without that struggle where we didn't have to find different solutions to win and different guys stepping up so that they had the confidence for these kind of moments. If we didn't have a regular season, then you have zero chance to be able to do that in the playoffs."
Now, the Heat have the potential to make NBA history.
Can they do it? We check it out to help with your NBA betting.
Miami Heat Odds Throughout the Season
At PointsBet Sportsbook, the Miami Heat opened as one of the teams near the top of the futures market for the NBA title at +1800 — the ninth-best overall odds.
But the team’s slow start saw that number jump to +4000 by January and would continue to increase to +8000 in April when the Heat were poised to be a part of the NBA Play-In Tournament. Miami needed to beat the Chicago Bulls after losing to the Atlanta Hawks just to earn a spot in the postseason as the No. 8 seed.
With a matchup set for the No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks, the Heat’s title odds were as high as +25000. But the Heat became the fifth eight-seed to advance past a No. 1, beating the Bucks in five games.
The Heat’s title odds fell to +2500 before the series with the Knicks, but after gaining a 3-1 lead and now sitting a game from the Eastern Conference finals, the Heat are +1600 to win it all at FanDuel Sportsbook.
Longest Odds to Win Championship
If the Heat were to continue its underdog run to a championship, it would be the longest-ever odds for an NBA champion. The biggest preseason NBA title champion was the 2015 Golden State Warriors, who won it all at +2800.
Two champions are tied for the biggest odds entering the postseason, with the 1995 Houston Rockets and 2011 Dallas Mavericks taking the title after being +1800 before the start of the playoffs.
If Miami won it all, it would be the first team to ever win at odds longer than +2800. At one point, the Heat was +25000, and would also become the biggest longshot entering the playoffs to become a champion at +12500.
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