Tip-off: Monday, 7:30 p.m. ET
Line: Miami -5, Total: 183

Two struggling ball clubs, the New York Knicks and Miami Heat, look to break three-game losing streaks when they meet in sunny Florida this Monday night.

New York is in the midst of a historically bad season and after having a nice run at the end of January, it’s lost the past three games SU (2-1 ATS). They allowed the opponent to make at least 50% of their shots twice in the three contests but did a solid job at keeping the ball out of the opponents hands with a mere 10.3 turnovers per game. The Knicks drew a tough matchup at home in their most recent game as they took on the Warriors while getting 15.5 points and just barely covered in a 106-92 loss. It was the fifth straight game that they scored fewer than 100 points as they made just 35-of-87 shots (40% FG) and gave up 12-of-25 threes (48% 3PM) to the offensive powerhouse that is Golden State. Miami is treading water at the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff race and come into this one with defeats in its past three games (1-2 ATS) by an average of 10.3 PPG. All three of the contests were on the road and they actually hit 45% or more of their shots in each game, but showed some poor defensive efforts, allowing 102.7 PPG as the opposition made 119-of-243 attempts (49% FG). The Heat’s last stop on the road trip was San Antonio where they were 12.5-point underdogs and failed to cover in a 98-85 defeat in the NBA Finals rematch. Miami made a mere five three-pointers in the loss as it let the Spurs hit on 48.2% of their shots. New York has had no success when playing away from MSG and is 3-22 SU (12-12-1 ATS) in road games as it goes up against a Miami team that is just 8-15 SU and ATS in South Beach. These clubs already played a game this year and it was hard to watch as they combined to make mere 61-of-160 shots (38% FG) in an 86-79 win by the Heat as three-point favorites on the road. Overall in the past three seasons it has been a very close matchup between these two teams with Miami holding a slight 5-4 SU and ATS edge and winning each of the past four meetings SU and ATS by an average of 14.3 PPG. Trends show us that the Heat are a putrid 1-12 ATS (8%) in home games after playing four consecutive road contests in the past three seasons and the Knicks are a meager 10-21 ATS (32% FG) after two or more consecutive losses this year. As far as injuries are concerned, New York has PG Pablo Prigioni (Hip) questionable and Miami will be without SG Dwyane Wade (Hamstring) and has SF Shawne Williams (Hip), C Hassan Whiteside (Ankle) and PF Udonis Haslem (Wrist) listed as questionable.

Can the Knicks earn a victory over the Heat in Miami on Monday? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2014-15 season. StatFox Forecaster has a strong 56% ATS record (134-105-1) in featured games this season. In terms of Best Bets, the experts have a huge 62% ATS (86-53) record since Jan. 2, led by StatFox Brian who is a stellar 66% ATS (19-10) mark in Best Bets since Dec. 31, and is now 57% ATS (43-32) in season Best Bets. StatFox Scott is sizzling with a 66% ATS (23-12) in Best Bets since Dec. 21, improving his record to 56% ATS (42-33) for the season. StatFox Gary is also red-hot with a 61% ATS (17-11) record in NBA Best Bets since Jan. 1, and 56% ATS (42-33) this season. StatFox Zach is 61% ATS (17-11) in NBA Best Bets since Jan. 2, while StatFox Dave is 63% ATS (10-6) in NBA Best Bets since Jan. 18.

The Knicks won’t be putting the fear in their opponents on the offensive end as they are averaging 92.7 PPG (3rd-worst in league) and shooting 43.8% from the floor (8th-worst in league). It doesn’t get too much better on the defensive side of the ball with the opposition scoring 100.3 PPG (12th-worst in league) behind 46% shooting (6th-worst in league). SF Carmelo Anthony (24.1 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 1.0 SPG) rested in the loss against Golden State and had made just 15-of-46 shots (33% FG) in his previous two contests (21.0 PPG). He was the best player on the court in the loss to Miami earlier in the year, going for 31 points with eight rebounds, a steal and a block. PF Amar’e Stoudemire (12.1 PPG, 6.9 RPG) has played minimal minutes in two games since returning from a four-game absence but still did well (13 points, 6 rebounds) over 17 minutes on Saturday. He put together one of his best performances of the year against the Heat in November when he scored 19 points to go with 12 rebounds in the defeat. PG Langston Galloway (11.4 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 1.1 SPG) has been a nice find for the Knicks this year but has shot just 28.8% on his attempts over the past five games. He’s hit double-digits in eight of his 14 games since making his way from the D-league and will hope to continue that trend in his first career meeting with Miami.

This game is certainly lining up to be a low-scoring affair with the Heat putting up 92.4 PPG (2nd-worst in league) as they make 45.5% of their shots. They have been able to do quite well on defense, though, giving up 96.3 PPG (2nd in league) with their opposition making 45.6 % of their shots (10th-worst in league). PF Chris Bosh (21.0 PPG, 7.3 RPG) will need to do a ton of heavy lifting in this one and has not looked good (14.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG) in his most recent two performances as he’s shot 38% from the field. He was solid (20 points, 9 rebounds) in the win over the Knicks this year despite making just 7-of-18 shots (39% FG). C Hassan Whiteside (9.8 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 2.5 BPG) missed his last game and did not practice on Sunday, but there is a chance he will still play and he is an extremely important piece of this team after averaging 17.8 PPG, 15.8 RPG and 2.8 BPG over his past four games. This will be his first career matchup with New York if he is able to go on Monday. SF Luol Deng (14.3 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.0 SPG) has been efficient in the past two contests, netting 17.5 PPG on 52% shooting as he played 34 minutes in each outing. Despite going 2-for-11 the first time facing the Knicks this year, he had a productive game with a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) and added three steals.