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So we get at least another two nights of consecutive basketball games, and we have another chapter of “the Mavs ain’t dead yet” following their dominant first three quarters last night at rain-soaked American Airlines arena in Dallas.

Most bettors took the Warriors to sweep along with the under last night, and both of those bets missed as Dallas got six 3s from Reggie Bullock and four from Dorian Finney-Smith to take some of the pressure off Luka Doncic for one of the few times this postseason. The Mavs are looking very much like a case study of what a talented team can do when a couple of teammates back up a superstar with aplomb.

If they could just do it on a consistent basis…

Well, we have what should be an epic tonight as Game 5 of the Heat-Celtics series takes place in Miami, but it will only be epic if it is memorable. And what has been memorable about that series thus far is the lopsided nature of most of the first four games.

Miami won Game 1 by 11 and Game 3 by 6; Boston won Game 2 by 25 and Game 4 by 20.

“Whatever they did to us, we can do to them,” Miami coach Erik Spoesltra said from the interview podium following the game.

We shall see.

Each team has won once on the other team’s home court; the over has hit three times and the under just once, and the Heat have covered twice with plenty of room to spare.

Boston is the better team top to bottom, roster-wise, but Miami has championship series experience, and that is an x-factor that the sportsbooks are probably undervaluing. Exhibit A is tonight’s spread: Boston -2.

Miami has gone 36-13 at home, 27-22-0 against the spread as a home team, 4-1-0 ATS as a home underdog and 21-11-1 ATS after a loss. Those latter two stats weight heavily in their favor.

Boston has gone an NBA-best 31-16-1 ATS as a road team, 16-7-0 as a road favorite and 30-27-3 ATS after a win. Also very impressive, but just a shade below Miami’s on the impressive scale.

The big question tonight is the health of both teams.

Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, Max Strus, P.J. Tucker and Gabe Vincent all banged up, and Tyler Herro now dealing with a hamstring strain that kept the Sixth Man of the Year out of Game 4, although Spoelstra said he expected him to play. Those ailments are likely impacting the line, too, but y’all should know that the Heat list injuries on their game notes with an abundance of caution. And as we learned earlier this postseason from the Philadelphia 76ers, it is not fair to the gambler to have teams being deceptive with their injury reports rather that forthcoming. (The Sixers were fined by the NBA league office for listing Embiid as “doubtful” up until 30 minutes before he played Game 3 with an orbital fracture.)

The Celtics have a couple injuries, too, with Marcus Smart having missed Game 4 with an ankle sprain and Robert Williams looking especially gimpy as he played 19 minutes on a sore left knee.

If there is one thing we have learned from that series, it is that the first quarter is telling. Two nights ago, Boston scored 18 of the first 19 points. In Game 3, Bam Adebayo had 10 of his series-high 31 points in the first 6 minutes as Miami went ahead 24-7. In Game 2, Boston had a 24-13 run to take an 11-point last late in the first quarter after trailing 18-8 early, and in Game 1 Miami bounced back and trailed by only three after falling behind 7-0, then blew the doors off the Celtics with a 39-14 third quarter in which they went to the free throw line 15 times.

Butler is the engine that makes Miami go, and if he is aggressive driving to the basket and drawing fouls when not connecting on mid-range shots, the Heat are at their best. He is on the board right now at +750 for Finals MVP, and the closest of any of his teammates is Adebayo at +3000. Boston, conversely, has Jayson Tatum at +270 and Jaylen Brown at +1600, and scattered throughout the top eight finals MVP choices are no less than five members of the Warriors.

But before you jump the gun on anyone for that award, consider this: The winner of Game 5 in a series tied 2-2 has gone on to defeat its opponent 82.2 percent of the time, which is a strong number. But in a 3-1 series like we have with Dallas and Golden State, the team with three wins has won 95.1 percent of the time, and as we all know from yesterday, no NBA team has ever come all the way back from an 0-3 deficit in 146 tries.

So if you want to go ahead and put money on Luka Doncic at +4500, be our guest – but know the percentages. Your faithful correspondent traveled to New Jersey a couple weeks ago to take a flyer on P.J. Tucker at +30000, because your faithful correspondent fancies himself a badass and likes like-minded players. (We will handicap all of the choices when the finals are set).

But the most salient point in those previous two paragraphs is the winning percentage for the Game 5 victor: 82.2 percent (180-39). That statistic is well known by Spoelstra, Ime Udoka and their staffs, and they will go all out in their game-planning tonight as though it is a Game 7.

That means Boston should go back to riding Jayson Tatum, whose point totals in this series have been consistent with one exception: just 10 points in Game 3. That was Tatum’s lowest total since Game 3 against Milwaukee in the second round, and prior to that he scored a season-low 8 at Toronto way back on Nov. 28. Between Dec. 1 and the end of the regular season, he was below 17 points just three times.

We have seen Tatum play his absolute best when facing Brooklyn, but they are long gone and he is on the spot tonight and will be watched closely and judged appropriately. His point total over/under of 28.5 is about right, so we have to search elsewhere for a player prop we like.

Which brings us to Al Horford, who has five single-digit scoring performances and nine double-digit outings. He has reached double figures in rebounds eight times and is the key third wheel for Boston, especially if Smart is out. We like his +235 odds on getting a double-double, so start your parlay there, and then make Miami getting the points (-110) your second choice.

Building from there is tricky because of the injuries and because secret weapon Victor Oladipo is not on the board for any player props despite his 23-point outing last game. But we still have Max Strus, coming off an 0-for-7 game in which he had to be looking over his shoulder at Oladipo. We like Strus under 2.5 3-pointers made (+105) for leg three of the parlay.

P.J. Tucker had a goose egg in the points column in Game 4 – only the second time that has happened since December – and we can guarantee he is embarrassed. Leg four is Tucker over 0.5 blocks (+250), and leg five comes from the Boston side with Jaylen Brown over 0.5 blocks (+205), the thinking being that both Tucker and Brown are very good defenders, and this will be an intense defensive game with plenty of contested shots.

Hopefully, Oladipo is among the options for Game 6. We have not heard the last from him.