NBA: LA Lakers vs. Miami Heat Preview, Odds, Prediction

The LAL Lakers visit the Miami Heat in the replay of the bubble NBA Finals. They defeated the Orlando Magic last night and now move further in Florida to square off with a much tougher challenge. Miami is still one of the contenders for the title, and even though Erik Spoelstra has a lot of problems with injured players, the Heat is always dangerous. LAL might have issues with fatigue, so that evens the situation.

Preview

LA Lakers (14-20, +240) snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over the Magic in Orlando, 129-110. Right now, James and the crew are far from the playoffs, and they need to turn up the volume, otherwise, the purple and gold won’t reach the postseason this year.

Anthony Davis’ injury was something that disrupted their solid flow, especially because AD started to look like the All-NBA player he used to be in the past. Now, about the game vs. Magic, the Lakers looked good throughout the entire event, closing down the event in the final period by outscoring the rivals 37-27.

LeBron had 28 points, Thomas Bryant 21 with 10 boards, while Russell Westbrook recorded a triple-double off the bench, with 15 buckets and 13 boards and assists each. Troy Brown had 15 points too. The Lakers made 17 threes in 43 attempts and were 54.4% from the field.

Miami Heat (17-17, -305) will play its fourth event at home in a row. The previous three saw them winning one and losing two clashes, which is a consequence of injuries and all sorts of trouble regarding health issues.

The Heat would suffer defeats against the Chicago Bulls, 113-108 and the Indiana Pacers, 111-108, before beating the Minnesota Timberwolves in the most recent contest. Miami played without Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler against the T-Wolves, so Max Strus led the way with 19 points, one more than Kyle Lowry, who also had nine assists.

Orlando Rodinson was good off the bench scoring 15 points and grabbing nine boards, while Tyler Herro had 14 and eight assists. As said, the Heat struggled with absences, and on top of that, their downtown shooting in this event was only 26.5% successful, 13-for-49.

Head to Head Games

We all remember the NBA Finals from the bubble, when the Lakers got the ring after six games. Jimmy Butler was phenomenal, but the Heat couldn’t do anything because even back then, their injury report was constantly full.

The overall series saw 50 regular season matches, and the current result is in LAL’s favor, 30-20. Both teams used the home-court edge last year, LAL winning at home 120-117 following an OT and the Heat triumphing in Florida 113-107.

Prediction

With or without Adebayo and Butler, or one of these two guys, the Heat are favorites here, and we expect them to show that. Poor shooting percentages are bound to go up at one point, and we sincerely think tonight’s game will be much better for the Heat. As for the Lakers, their rotation is shorter without AD, and we’ve seen them struggle with much weaker teams. That’s why we have to bet on the hosts.

Pick: Heat -305

Check out the preview for the Brooklyn Nets vs. Atlanta Hawks NBA game.