← Forecasts for Apr 11

2024-25 · Regular Season · Final

Miami Heat at New Orleans Pelicans

Friday, April 11, 2025 · tip-off time not recorded

MIA 2–3@NOP 2–3 records going into the game NBA.com recap ↗

Win probability as a share of the court: MIA 82 percent, NOP 18 percent. MIA Heat 82% proj. 119 · final 153 NOP Pelicans · home 18% proj. 104 · final 104
Each team's share of the floor is its pregame win probability. The line starts at midcourt and moves to the split.

Forecast and result

TeamProjectedFinalDifference
MIA Miami Heat 119 153 +34
NOP New Orleans Pelicans (home) 104 104 ±0

Forecast: Miami Heat to win, 82% win probability, projected margin 15.

Inside the Forecast

How the inputs are built
What the model received
InputMIANOP
Elo ratingMargin-of-victory Elo; 1500 is average. 14921325
Elo gap, home minus road, incl. home court −97
Season scoring marginPoints per game, blended with last season early in the year. −0.3−8.9
Games played this season 7980
Offensive rating, last 10Points scored per 100 possessions. 120.9107.8
Defensive rating, last 10Points allowed per 100 possessions; lower is better. 108.0119.2
Combined pace, last 10Possessions per game, both teams. 97.6
Rotation points missingPoints per game of rotation players listed Out or Doubtful. 7.973.1
Rest days 21
Second night of a back-to-back NoYes

This forecast can't be broken down exactly: the model version that made this forecast is not available. Explanations are shown only when the model that made a forecast can be rebuilt and reproduces it. How explanations are checked

Built from the box scores

How the breakdowns work

Where each input came from. Open a row to see the games and box-score stats behind it. A breakdown is shown only when rebuilding it from the stored stats gives exactly the number the model received.

Elo ratingMIA1492NOP1325

Updated after every game from the final score only: wins, losses and margin. Each season starts by keeping 75% of last season's distance from the 1500 average.

MIA1492

1500
  1. Ended last season at 1543 → started this one at 1532
  2. First 69 games: −133.2
  3. Last 10 games: +93.6
  • WCHA122–105+6.7
  • WGSW112–86+28.0
  • WATL122–112+9.0
  • W@PHI118–95+15.4
  • W@WAS120–94+11.3
  • W@BOS124–103+40.6
  • LMEM108–110−5.8
  • LMIL115–121−8.6
  • WPHI117–105+3.3
  • L@CHI111–119−6.3

NOP1325

1500
  1. Ended last season at 1553 → started this one at 1540
  2. First 70 games: −191.0
  3. Last 10 games: −23.1
  • L@MIN93–134−5.0
  • L@DET130–136−2.0
  • WPHI112–99+9.7
  • LGSW95–111−8.0
  • WCHA98–94+3.5
  • L@LAC98–114−2.8
  • L@LAL108–124−4.3
  • LMIL107–111−3.5
  • L@BKN114–119−6.2
  • L@MIL111–136−4.5
Season scoring marginMIA−0.3NOP−8.9

Points scored minus points allowed per game this season, mixed with last season's margin until 20 games are played.

MIA−0.3

Scores 109.9, allows 110.2 over 79 games: −0.3 a game.

NOP−8.9

Scores 110.0, allows 118.9 over 80 games: −8.9 a game.

Offensive rating, last 10MIA120.9NOP107.8

Points scored per 100 possessions. Split into the four factors: right of center helps the team, left hurts, in points per 100 possessions compared with the league average (2024-25 to date: 113.8).

MIA120.9scored, +7.1 vs league

FactorMIALeaguehurtshelpsPts
Shooting (eFG%)58.2%54.4%+5.6
Turnovers (TOV%)10.6%12.0%+2.0
Offensive rebounding (OREB%)29.4%25.2%+1.9
Free throws (FTM per FGA)0.1640.193−0.8
Everything else−1.6

NOP107.8scored, −6.0 vs league

FactorNOPLeaguehurtshelpsPts
Shooting (eFG%)54.4%54.4%−0.1
Turnovers (TOV%)15.0%12.0%−4.3
Offensive rebounding (OREB%)27.6%25.2%+1.1
Free throws (FTM per FGA)0.1690.193−0.7
Everything else−2.0
Defensive rating, last 10MIA108.0NOP119.2

Points allowed per 100 possessions, built from what opponents did in those games. Bars point right when the defense held opponents below average. Split into the four factors: right of center helps the team, left hurts, in points per 100 possessions compared with the league average (2024-25 to date: 113.8).

MIA108.0allowed, −5.8 vs league

FactorOpponentsLeaguehurtshelpsPts
Shooting (eFG%)54.1%54.4%+0.5
Turnovers (TOV%)14.0%12.0%+2.8
Offensive rebounding (OREB%)22.8%25.2%+1.1
Free throws (FTM per FGA)0.1510.193+1.2
Everything else+0.1

NOP119.2allowed, +5.4 vs league

FactorOpponentsLeaguehurtshelpsPts
Shooting (eFG%)56.2%54.4%−2.6
Turnovers (TOV%)10.1%12.0%−2.8
Offensive rebounding (OREB%)23.4%25.2%+0.8
Free throws (FTM per FGA)0.2450.193−1.5
Everything else+0.7
Pace, last 10average 97.6

Possessions per 48 minutes. The model uses the average of the two teams. Faster games mean more points for both sides, so pace mostly moves the projected total, not the margin.

MIA 96.3 and NOP 99.0 → average 97.6 (league 2024-25 to date: 99.6)

Rotation points missingMIA7.9NOP73.1

Points per game of rotation players (two or more of the last 10 games this season, 15+ minutes) listed Out or Doubtful on the official injury report.

MIA7.9pts/g missing

PlayerPtsMinGames
Pelle Larsson7.921.19

Source: official injury report, 2025-04-11 17:30 ET. 9 rotation players.

NOP73.1pts/g missing

PlayerPtsMinGames
CJ McCollum27.532.32
Jordan Hawkins13.027.14
Bruce Brown11.127.78
Yves Missi10.926.18
Kelly Olynyk10.624.58

Source: official injury report, 2025-04-11 17:30 ET. 10 rotation players.

RestMIA2 daysNOP1 days

Days since the team's previous game, capped at 5. One day means the second night of a back-to-back.

MIA2days

Last played Apr 9 against CHI.

NOP1day, back-to-back

Last played Apr 10 against MIL.

The last 10 games behind these numbers, box-score totals

MIA

DateOppScoreFG3PFTTOVOREBOffDefPace
Apr 9@CHI111–11944-9212-3311-171311107.8116.7102.5
Apr 7PHI117–10545-8916-3611-151310120.6108.297.0
Apr 5MIL115–12143-10215-4614-161011108.5114.296.0
Apr 3MEM108–11039-9514-3316-191115109.1112.298.5
Apr 2@BOS124–10343-8314-3024-27411144.2119.886.0
Mar 31@WAS120–9447-939-3217-241715113.288.7106.0
Mar 29@PHI118–9544-9320-4310-13915126.9102.293.0
Mar 27ATL122–11244-8218-3316-20137125.8114.397.5
Mar 25GSW112–8643-7717-259-12158124.494.590.5
Mar 23CHA122–10547-8212-2916-20107128.4109.495.5

NOP

DateOppScoreFG3PFTTOVOREBOffDefPace
Apr 10@MIL111–13641-9615-4714-19169103.7127.1107.0
Apr 8@BKN114–11939-8212-3324-31178110.7116.7102.5
Apr 6MIL107–11143-9512-339-14117107.0111.0100.0
Apr 4@LAL108–12440-8214-3414-221614113.7130.595.0
Apr 2@LAC98–11443-854-228-11156101.0118.896.5
Mar 30CHA98–9438-929-3113-17171195.191.3103.0
Mar 28GSW95–11133-817-2322-281512100.0116.895.0
Mar 24PHI112–9943-8715-3511-131612117.9105.394.5
Mar 23@DET130–13649-8520-4012-161710134.0138.897.5
Mar 21@MIN93–13434-6811-3114-2225794.9135.498.5

Off and Def are points scored and allowed per 100 possessions in each game; their averages are the 10-game ratings above. OREB is missing (–) where the source data didn't record it.

The result against the forecast

2024-25 surprise games
82%
pregame chance the forecast gave MIA, the winner
MIA was the forecast favorite
34 pts
margin miss
forecast −15, actual −49 for NOP
1245th
most surprising result of 2024-25
of 1,309 graded games
23rd
largest margin miss of 2024-25
outcome surprise 0.20 nats

Surprise is measured against this model's forecast, not against what other observers expected. Outcome surprise is −ln(winner's pregame probability): 0.69 for a coin flip, 2.3 for a 10% winner.

Team box score

What happened in the game. These numbers are not used by the forecast, and they are not offered as the reason it missed.

Team statMIANOP
Final score153104
Field goals58–104 · 55.8%38–95 · 40.0%
Three-pointers20–45 · 44.4%14–37 · 37.8%
Free throws17–22 · 77.3%14–20 · 70.0%
Rebounds6042
Assists3627
Turnovers913
Steals126
Blocks52

Where the forecast differed from the result

MeasureForecastActualActual − forecast
Home margin (NOP)−15−49−34
Total points223257+34
MIA points119153+34
NOP points104104±0

Recent form before this game

Miami Heat

DateOpponentResult
Apr 9 at CHI L 111–119
Apr 7 vs PHI W 117–105
Apr 5 vs MIL L 115–121
Apr 3 vs MEM L 108–110
Apr 2 at BOS W 124–103

New Orleans Pelicans

DateOpponentResult
Apr 10 at MIL L 111–136
Apr 8 at BKN L 114–119
Apr 6 vs MIL L 107–111
Apr 4 at LAL L 108–124
Apr 2 at LAC L 98–114

Previous meetings

DateMatchupScore
Jan 1 2024-25 NOP at MIA NOP 108 – 119 MIA
Mar 22 2023-24 NOP at MIA NOP 111 – 88 MIA
Feb 23 2023-24 MIA at NOP MIA 106 – 95 NOP
Jan 22 2022-23 NOP at MIA NOP 96 – 100 MIA
Jan 18 2022-23 MIA at NOP MIA 124 – 98 NOP