The Oklahoma City Thunder could be seeking to finish in their series with the Dallas Mavericks Monday night. Within the other two games, the Miami Heat will try to go up 3-1 at the Hornets and the Clippers will work on doing the similar against the Blazers.

Miami Heat at Charlotte Hornets (-3, 195.5)

Heat lead series 2-1

The Miami Heat set a historic offensive pace within the first two games in their first round series before crashing back to earth in Game 3. The Charlotte Hornets will attempt to prepare back-to-back solid defensive efforts or even the series at two wins apiece after they host the warmth in Game 4 on Tuesday.

Miami scored a franchise playoff-record 123 points in a Game 1 win and followed it up with a 115-103 triumph in Game 2, however the Hornets turned up the defense and held the warmth to 34.2 percent from the sphere in a 96-80 triumph on Saturday. The victory snapped a 14-year drought between playoff wins for Charlotte franchises, though the team was that specialize in the longer term in place of the past. "THIS IS NOT about winning one playoff game, it's about winning a playoff series," Hornets coach Steve Clifford told reporters. "THIS OFFERS us an opportunity". Miami might want to make an adjustment after Charlotte went to a larger lineup and pushed its technique to the win up front.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBATV, FSN Sun (Miami)

LINE HISTORY: The Hornets opened as 2.5-point favorites and the road was bumped as much as -3 by Sunday afternoon. The entire opened at 195 and was also bumped up a half point to 195.5. Take a look at your complete line history here.

MATCHUP CHART:

ABOUT THE WARMTH (50-35, 45-39-1 ATS, 36-48-1 O/U): Miami burned the Hornets within the first two games by putting Luol Deng at power forward but were at the receiving end of a few physical play in Game 3. “They went really big and caught us off guard,” Heat center Hassan Whiteside told reporters. “We were prepared for Al Jefferson to post up, but they posted up on our guards. They got us into foul trouble, and that was tough. But we all know what they do now. We all know what they’re searching for and we will hone on that. Now we all know what their different lineups are going to appear like.” Whiteside left Saturday’s game within the fourth quarter with a quad bruise before sitting out practice on Sunday and is thought of as questionable for Game 4.

ABOUT THE HORNETS (49-36, 43-41-1 ATS, 42-41-2 O/U): Charlotte lost starting guard Nicolas Batum to an ankle injury in Game 2 but rather than inserting another guard into the lineup for Game 3 went big with 7-0 center Frank Kaminsky. The rookie only attempted one field goal in a combined 37 minutes within the first two games but finished with 15 points in 35 minutes in Game 3. “He just kept playing,” Clifford told reporters of Kaminsky. “He had the appropriate attitude. Playing basketball is not any different than anything. You might have the fitting attitude, you give yourself a possibility to get going when things don’t go your way.”

TRENDS:

* Heat are 1-7 ATS of their last 8 road games.* Hornets are 2-8 ATS of their last 10 Conference Quarterfinals games.* Under is 8-1 in Heat last 9 games following a straight up lack of greater than 10 points.* Over is 7-1 in Hornets last 8 vs. Eastern Conference.

Dallas Mavericks at Oklahoma City (-13.5, 205)

Thunder lead series 3-1

The third-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder will try to close out their first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday and will must achieve this without All-Star small forward Kevin Durant. A flagrant 2 foul got Durant ejected late in Saturday's 119-108 road win over the sixth-seeded Mavericks and he now faces the potential of being suspended for Game 5.

Durant was called for the flagrant 2 after seeking to contest a shot by Dallas guard Justin Anderson and smacking him the rookie within the face along with his forearm. "I wasn't seeking to hurt him," Durant told reporters afterward. "A LOT OF plays this season where I blocked shots like that from behind. Just unfortunate I fouled him over the pinnacle. It was a flagrant, even supposing I wasn't looking to intentionally foul him. The refs needed to come to a decision and so they made the appropriate one. It was just bad timing." Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki is twiddling with a bruised knee and can be looking to keep his team alive after excelling with 27 points and 8 rebounds in Game 4. "Hey, we've all got to enjoy it while we can," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said after Game 4. "We're seeing one of the special athletes in sports history and doing it at an amazingly high level at really a sophisticated stage in his career."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT, KTXA (Dallas), FSN Oklahoma

LINE HISTORY: The Thunder opened as massive 13-point favorites for this home court elimination game, however it appears that 13 points wasn't enough for the betting public because the books bumped the road to -13.5 early Sunday morning. The full opened at 205 and hasn't moved at this point. Take a look at all the line history here.

MATCHUP CHART:

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (43-43, 46-39-1 ATS, 41-44-1 O/U): Point guard Deron Williams (sports hernia) departed just 89 seconds into Game 4 after aggravating the injury and can miss the remainder of the series. "I FEEL he's done for the year," Carlisle told reporters. "THAT IS WHAT I FEEL. I DO NOT expect him to play in Game 5." Point guard J.J. Berea (groin) missed all seven of his shots while struggling through a scoreless Game 4 and Dallas will again rely heavily on Raymond Felton, who had 19 points and 11 assists on Saturday and is averaging 19.3 points during the last three games.

ABOUT THE THUNDER (58-28, 40-45-1 ATS, 41-45 O/U): Point guard Russell Westbrook had 25 points and 15 assists and has recorded double-doubles in all four games of the series. Westbrook scored 22 of Oklahoma City's 32 third-quarter points as he helped the Thunder maintain the speedier pace and never let the sport settle into the low-scoring affair (85-84 in Game 2) that ended in Dallas' lone victory. "THE SECRET is pop out and play basketball and that is what we've done the last two games, especially here," Westbrook told reporters. "WE ALL KNOW numerous their game is to more or less muck up the sport and that i think we're doing a really perfect job of staying above it."

TRENDS:

* Mavericks are 2-8 ATS of their last 10 Conference Quarterfinals games.* Thunder are 5-1 ATS of their last 6 vs. Western Conference.* Under is 6-1 in Mavericks last 7 road games.* Mavericks are 1-4 ATS within the last 5 meetings.

Los Angeles Clippers at Portland Trail Blazers (+2.5, 206.5)

Clippers lead series 2-1The Portland Trail Blazers turned the series around at home in Game 3 and can attempt to even things up at two wins apiece once they host the l. a. Clippers in Game 4 on Monday. The path Blazers finally got strong performances within the same game from Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum on Saturday, which boosted their confidence moving forward.

“I knew that this game, if we'd have lost this game, we'd has been in some real trouble,” Lillard told reporters after the 96-88 win in Game 3. “So I just desired to pop out and leave it out there, be aggressive at the offensive end and assistance on the defensive end. … Just be in attack mode for 48 minutes and our entire team did that.” Lillard was a combined 13-of-39 from the ground within the first two games but knocked down 10-of-20 en path to 32 points within the return home on Saturday. The Clippers held a four-point lead with under four minutes to play in Game 3 before being outscored 15-1 the remainder of the way in which and were disappointed of their inability to position the sport away. “We really don’t wish to go into these long playoff series,” La guard J.J. Redick told reporters. “Anything can happen, because it showed last year against Houston (when the Clippers squandered a 3-1 lead). When you've got a team down, and we had a four-point lead against a team we had 2-0 - we had an excellent chance to head up 3-0, and on Monday, we’ll have a possibility to head up 3-1.”TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), KGW (Portland)

LINE HISTORY: The Blazers opened as 2.5-point dogs at home for Game 4 and that line hasn't moved since hitting the board early Sunday morning. The overall opened at 206 and was bumped as much as 206.5 presently after release. Take a look at the whole line history here.

MATCHUP CHART:

ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (55-30, 42-40-3 ATS, 34-51 O/U): L. a. forward Blake Griffin was one of the vital players talking in regards to the team’s want to stay aggressive after going up 2-0 within the series, and he was disappointed within the team’s Game 3 effort. “They beat us in almost every facet of the game,” Griffin told reporters. “They outhustled us, they were better at the glass, they got the 50-50 balls. That they had more energy. They flew around. They executed their game plan. You want to tell they desired to go early. They were tougher than us. They were more aggressive. They were tougher.” The Clippers went 3-of-18 from 3-point range within the loss and Redick was held to 5 points after totaling 34 within the first two contests.

ABOUT THE BLAZERS (45-40, 45-40 ATS, 44-41 O/U): Lillard and McCollum (27 points on 11-of-22 shooting) handled the majority of the scoring in Game 3 however the best performance can have come from center Mason Plumlee, who collected six points, 21 rebounds and nine assists. “Obviously, the rebounds speak for themselves,” Portland coach Terry Stotts told reporters of Plumlee. “His playmaking, his running into screens – he had an excellent game. The rebounding was the most important thing because that’s been roughly a weak spot for us within the series, but his passing, he’s been doing that every one year for us.” The path Blazers outrebounded the Clippers 63-56 behind Plumlee’s big game.

TRENDS:

* Hawks are 0-5 ATS of their last five road games.* Celtics are 1-4 ATS of their last five games following a ATS win.* Under is 4-1 in Hawks last five games overall.* Under is 12-3 in Celtics last 15 games following a straight up win.

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