The NBA season is officially underway and opening week carries on with an out-of-conference matchup between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics. Our NBA odds series continues with a Heat-Celtics prediction and pick.

The Miami Heat enter this game after escaping an upset at the hands of the Detroit Pistons. The Heat led by as many as 19 points in the game, but after a second-half collapse, allowed the Pistons to pull within one point late in the fourth quarter. However, Miami prevailed due to a clutch Bam Adebayo block and some lights-out defense. They will look to bounce back with a statement win on the road in Boston to prove that Wednesday night was just a fluke.

Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics had quite an impressive comeback against the Knicks in their opening night game. Boston trailed by six points with 3:14 to play in the fourth quarter. Then, the newly acquired Kristaps Porzingis took over and showed the Knicks why they made a mistake trading him four years ago. Over these final three minutes, he scored nine of Boston's final 13 points in their 13-3 run to close out the Knicks at the Garden. With all this momentum, he is ready to lead the Celtics in their first home game of the new season.

Here are the NBA odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

NBA Odds: Heat-Celtics Odds

Miami Heat: +8 (-108)

Boston Celtics: -8 (-112)

Over: 217 (-110)

Under: 217 (-110)

How to Watch Heat vs. Celtics

Time: 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT

TV: ESPN

Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)

Why The Heat Could Cover The Spread

Many people will point out what went wrong for the Heat in their narrow season-opening win. However, they excelled in many facets of the game. Specifically, the way they got after offensive rebounds was phenomenal. They corraled 16 offensive boards on the night, leading to 15 second chance points. Leading these rebounding efforts was Jimmy Butler. He set a career-high on Wednesday night for most offensive rebounds in a game with eight. These eight boards currently leads in the league for most offensive rebounds. Boston's rebounding efforts were a little suspect on Wednesday, so if Butler and the Heat can continue to bring the intensity on the offensive glass, they should be able to run away with it.

Over the last several years, the Miami Heat brand has made its name off of its defense. Based on their first game, it looks like that won't be stopping anytime soon. Against the Pistons, they had 11 steals and forced Detroit to commit 17 turnovers. In his NBA debut, rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. proved that he will be a seamless fit into the Heat culture. He racked up two steals and limited his opponents to shooting just 2-6 (33.3%) from 25-29 feet away from the basket. After seeing a couple of crucial bench players depart in free agency, it looks like the Heat will be just fine with the defensive skillset some of the new guys have brought to Miami.

Why The Celtics Could Cover The Spread

A major question for the Celtics heading into this season was how well their new-look starting five would play together to begin the season. If game one indicates how the season will fare for this lineup, no team in the league is safe. On opening night, the Celtics rolled out a starting five of Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Kristaps Porzingis. In the 19 minutes, this lineup was on the floor together, they tallied 44 points on an efficient 56.0% shooting from the field, tied for the sixth most points scored by a lineup combination in the league. Moreover, they are tied with the league's seventh-highest +/- rating by a lineup after producing a +9 advantage. This core lineup is incredibly dangerous and one that the Heat are not equipped to handle.

In the most recent quarter of basketball the Miami Heat played, they were abysmal. The Heat were outscored by ten points in the second half and by a 27-20 margin at the hands of an inexperienced Pistons squad in the fourth quarter. In the final 3:20 in the fourth quarter, the Pistons went on a 9-2 run to almost complete the comeback but let it slip on three bad offensive possessions to end the game. The Boston Celtics are too good and experienced not to capitalize on an opportunity like that. If the Heat continue to play sloppy like they did in their most recent quarter of play, the Celtics will run away with it at the Garden.

Final Heat-Celtics Prediction & Pick

All eyes will surely be on this Eastern Conference finals rematch from a season ago. Over the past four seasons, Miami has had Boston's number in the playoffs. The Heat have beaten the Celtics in two of their three Eastern Conference Finals series and have caused Boston to make some serious transactions over the years to reach the Finals. With this new iteration of the Boston Celtics, they outman and outpower the Heat too much for Miami to hang around in this one. Although Miami has a superior defense, the offensive firepower from the Celtics is just too much for this team to handle. In addition, the Celtics have added motivation to take down Miami in their first game at home in Boston this season. I will be taking the Boston Celtics against the spread.

Final Heat-Celtics Prediction & Pick: Boston Celtics -8 (-112)