The NBA’s 2019-20 season is finally approaching an end, as the playoffs inside the Orlando “bubble” have resulted in an intriguing NBA Finals matchup, with the West’s top seed, the Los Angeles Lakers, taking on the East’s fifth seed, the Miami Heat. It’s worth noting that basketball in which traditional positions no longer play a role is front and center in these finals. One of the first coaches to start blurring positional lines, Erik Spoelstra, has his Heat in the championship, and Spoelstra’s first positionless player, LeBron James, will take the floor for the Lakers. Can the Heat knock off yet another titan? Or will the Lakers simply shrug and take care of business in this series as well, as they have done in the playoffs so far?
Don’t miss our thoughts on this series as you plan out your NBA betting.
NBA News:
2020 NBA Finals Preview and Predictions
Game 1: Wednesday, September 30, 9:00 pm ET
Game 2: Friday, October 2, 9:00 pm ET
Game 3: Sunday, October 4, 7:30 pm ET
Game 4: Tuesday, October 6, 9:00 pm ET
Game 5: Friday, October 9, 9:00 pm ET*
Game 6: Sunday, October 11, 7:30 pm ET*
Game 7: Tuesday, October 13, 9:00 pm ET*
* – if necessary
All games broadcast on ABC
One key player for the Miami Heat has been Goran Dragic. At the age of 34, he only started three games in the entire regular season for the Heat. However, he turned back the clock in the playoffs and led the team with 20.9 points per game (up from 16.2 in the regular season). He has improved his shooting from the floor and the free-throw line, and his percentage from downtown is roughly the same.
For the Lakers, the lineup begins with LeBron James, who typically runs the point. In the playoffs, he is almost averaging a triple double (26.7 points, 10.3 boards, 8.9 assists). His playoff two-point field goal percentage of 63.6% is the best in his career. In the last game of the West Finals, he had 38 points, 16 boards and 10 assists to eliminate Denver and also played shutdown defense on Jamal Murray.
Duncan Robinson has been the primary three-ball threat for Miami. Almost 89 percent of all his shots in these playoffs have come from behind the arc, and he’s made 40 percent of them — a slight drop from his 44.6% mark during the regular season. He became just the sixth player in NBA history to shoot at least 44 percent from downtown while making 200 or more threes.
For the Lakers, the top deep shooter has been Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. He’s made 42.1 percent of them in the postseason, a jump from a career average of 34.9 percent, and almost two-thirds of his shots have been from downtown.
Miami’s Jimmy Butler has long been an enigma for the coaches he has played for, but he has found a home with the Heat, motivating the team’s young players. He is a relentless player on both ends of the floor, and while the Heat would like him to shoot more some time.
L.A.’s Anthony Davis might be the best overall player in this series, given the mileage that LeBron has on his legs. He made the league’s All-Defensive first team while also scoring 28.8 points, grabbing 9.3 boards and dishing out 3.6 assists per game in the postseason, shooting 57.1 percent from the floor and 81 percent from the free throw line.
Inside, Miami’s Bam Adebayo made the league’s All-Defensive second team — while putting up 32 points in Game 6 of the East finals, going 11 for 15 from the floor and 10 for 11 from the free-throw line. He can move and read the floor, and he delivers emphatic blocks. He’s not a brute-force center, but he is old-school with his ability to score with his back to the basket. Watching him and AD square off will be one of the great parts of this series.
