The Miami Heat are in a tough position as they trail 0-2 against the LA Lakers in the NBA Finals.
Miami Heat vs. Los Angeles Lakers Game 3 Preview
The Heat are without Goran Dragic in the upcoming match, and with fragile Bam Adebayo, for who we still don’t know the degree of his shoulder and neck injury. On top of that, they are in deficit for two games. Meanwhile, it couldn’t be better for the Lakers whose duo James-Davis tears apart the Heat defense. The LAL is excellent in the moments when needed the most, looking unstoppable, especially in the attack.
When, Where, and How to Watch Miami Heat vs. Los Angeles Lakers Game 3
When: Sunday, October 4, 7:30 pm ET.
Where: Orlando, Fla,
How to Watch: ABC, NBA League Pass
Miami Heat vs. Los Angeles Lakers Game 3 Odds
| Heat | Lakers |
| +9.5 -110 | -9.5 -110 |
Miami’s Troubles
Goran Dragic is the starting point of all the Heat’s attacks. When the Slovenian veteran has the ball, Miami is looking much more confident and is efficient than without him. It is pretty useless to debate about his impact on the team. Drago’s absence is a massive blow, for the Heat, and Erik Spoelstra needs to find a way to fill in the gap left once he injured his plantar fascia.
Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro will have to double their efforts in offense and take the ball.
Bam Adebayo is the next when talking about the impact on Miami’s game. The big fella is probable for Game 3, and if he repeats the performances from the Conference finals, the Heat have some chances of winning. If not, then it is bye, bye title. Adebayo needs to restrain Davis, or at least slow him down, without allowing the referees to call fouls on him, which is a very tough job.
Lakers Rolling
LeBron and Davis scored 65 points in Game 2. and 59 in Game 1, and there you have the key reason why the Lakers lead 2-0. The two superstars are unstoppable, scoring points from all sorts of positions while keeping a pretty high shooting percentage.
What also makes a difference are the sidekicks, Rondo, Caldwell-Pope, Kuzma, Green, who are creating hell for the Heat in defense, with their constant pressure. The latter three are three-and-D guys, while Rondo also has a major impact in organizing the offense, taking pressure off James in the moments when he needs to catch a breath.
That is when the veteran point guard steps up and organizes the attacks, with the ball in his possession.
Prediction
The Lakers are 9.5-point favorites. We, too, agree on the fact that they have excellent chances of beating the Heat for the third time in a row, but the spread they need to cover is looking a bit big. This is the match in which Miami has to be very strong and aggressive, and Spoelstra no doubt plans to extract 100% of his players’ capabilities.
Because of that, we back up the Heat to defend the spread and in the worst case lose with a single-digit difference.
