Game 1: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Miami Heat NBA Finals Picks, Predictions 9/30/20

The Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers meet Wednesday in game one of the NBA Finals at the AdventHealth Arena.

Heat vs. Lakers NBA Series Betting Prediction And Preview

The Miami Heat are coming off a six-game series victory over the Boston Celtics. The Miami Heat are averaging 112.2 points on 45.9 percent shooting and allowing 107.2 points on 45.2 percent shooting. Goran Dragic is averaging 20.9 points and 4.7 assists while Jimmy Butler is averaging 20.7 points and 5.7 rebounds. Bam Adebayo is the third double-digit scorer and Tyler Herro is dishing 3.9 assists. The Miami Heat are shooting 35.7 percent from beyond the arc and 82.1 percent from the free thitem line. The Miami Heat are allowing 34.5 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 42.9 rebounds per game.

The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off a five-game series win over the Denver Nuggets. The Los Angeles Lakers are averaging 113.9 points on 49.8 percent shooting and allowing 106.5 points on 45 percent shooting. Anthony Davis is averaging 28.8 points and 9.3 rebounds while LeBron James is averaging 26.7 points and 8.9 assists. Kyle Kuzma is the third double-digit scorer and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is grabbing 1.8 rebounds. The Los Angeles Lakers are shooting 35.5 percent from beyond the arc and 74.7 percent from the free thitem line. The Los Angeles Lakers are allowing 36.2 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 43.7 rebounds per game.

The Heat are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games playing on 2 days rest, 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games as an underdog and 12-3 ATS in their last 15 games overall. The Lakers are 6-2-1 ATS in their last 9 games as a favorite, 1-5 ATS in their last 6 Wednesday games and 6-2-1 ATS in their last 9 games overall. The over is 4-0 in Heat last 4 overall. The over is 4-1 in Lakers last 5 overall. The under is 9-1 in the last 10 meetings in Los Angeles and 4-1 in the last 5 meetings.

The Los Angeles Lakers should be favored because they have the best two players in this series and the best player in the league. However, I’ve said throughout these entire playoffs that the Heat aren’t priced correctly and are being slept on by oddsmakers. The Heat are extremely deep, well coached and have the shooters that allows them to never be out of a game. In terms of breaking down the rosters and knowing the depth, the Heat are the better team here. The Heat have the bodies to thitem at LeBron and have probably the best defender in the bubble in Bam to make life difficult for AD. I’d then take my chances with the Heats bench over what the Lakers have. This series is going to be closer than many expect, but we should expect that given that the Heat have been underdogs their last two series and prevailed rather easily.

Give me the Heat and the points.