As the Los Angeles Lakers attempts to claim their seventeenth NBA Championship against LeBron James’ former team the Miami Heat, its time to stack the two up and see who comes out on top. The Lakers come into this series bringing two of the best players in the league in LeBron James and Anthony Davis. With a cast of seasoned veterans behind them in Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard, Danny Green, and others this team is riddled with talent and experience. Miami brings something very different to the table. Led by the talented veteran Jimmy Butler, the Miami Heat are a mixed bag of young and old players. Running the floor are veterans of the game like Butler, Iguadola, and Dragic. Running with them are young, break out talents such as Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo. Together they form a scrappy squad who has defied the odds time and time again in the NBA bubble.
The number five seeded Heat come into this series the same way they have in every series, as the underdog. In every 2020 playoff series they have been the lower seed, but every time they have come out on top. They swept the number four Pacers and then went on to take down the unstoppable Greek Freak and his number one ranked Milwaukee Bucks. They then faced the Boston Celtics, a tough defensive team with an incredible amount of offensive talent. But just as they had before, the Miami Heat prevailed, led by the hot hands of Goran Dragic, Tyler Herro, and Bam Adebayo.
The Lakers, however, have performed to expectations. They handled the first two rounds with ease, taking down Portland and Houston in five games, and while their series with the Nuggets was closer than it appeared, the Lakers still took the series in five as well. James and Davis have been excellent through the playoffs. LeBron has proven that he is still one of the best players in the league, averaging near a triple-double in the playoffs with 26.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 8.9 assists. Anthony Davis is in the midst of the deepest playoff run of his career and while the pressure is on, it hasn’t fazed him. Davis has averaged 28.8 points and 9.3 rebounds in the playoffs. He even nailed a game winning three against the Nuggets to put the Lakers up 2-0 in the series. Along with them comes a group of solid scorers and defenders. The Los Angeles Lakers are a team of overwhelming talent and experience.
In order the capture their fourth title, the Heat will have to overcome many obstacles, the first of which is their lack of experience. The only players on the Miami team that have finals experience are Andre Iguadola and Udonis Haslem, who hasn’t played in these playoffs. Iguadola will have to take a large leadership role in order to prepare his team for the upcoming series. Then again, these finals are unlike any that have come before so experience may not matter as much.
Miami will also have to be at their best defensively. They have faced some prolific scorers in these playoffs in the form of Giannis Antetekounmpo and Jason Tatum, but they have yet to face anything like LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Butler and Iguadola will undoubtedly take on LeBron, being the elite and proven defenders that they are. Iguadola has a lot of experience guarding James as they met manyz times in their battles with the Warriors and Cavaliers. However, Davis may be more of a concern for the Heat due to the fact that he will be Bam Adebayo’s main responsibility.
While Adebayo has proven himself to be an excellent rim protector during the playoffs, the competition he has faced at center has been nothing compared to Anthony Davis. Davis is not only fast, agile, and an excellent ball handler, but he is a threat from anywhere. He is a 36.6% three-point shooter and will post you up just as easy has he will cross you over. Bam will also meet fierce opposition defensively as Anthony Davis was named a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year. While Davis may not have a easy time going up against Bam, Adebayo will most certainly have his hands full .
The Heat have several x-factors coming into this series. The first is a 20-year-old rookie named Tyler Herro. In game three he finished with 22 points and followed that up with a 37-point performance. He had five three-pointers in game 4 and appeared to score with ease against a tough Celtics defense. The second is Miami’s point guard, Goran Dragic. The Heat tend to feed the hot hand and for the first two games of the Celtics series that was Dragic. He led the Heat in scoring in the first two games with 29 points in game one and 25 points in game two. Dragic continued his high level offense, scoring 22 points or more in four of the six games against the Celtics. The third, of course, is Bam Adebayo. Throughout the playoffs Bam has averaged 18.5 points on 57.1% shooting and 11.4 rebounds. His scoring a rebounding ability will be a vital part of the upcoming series.
Los Angeles has some more obvious x-factors. The Lakers supporting cast has performed well. KCP has averaged 9.9 points and Rojon Rondo has joined LeBron in the assist game, bringing an average of 7.2 assists per-game. Dwight Howard has provided valuable minutes off the bench, something that wasn’t even thought of as possible since his departure from Houston. However, Kyle Kuzma seems to be the biggest question for this Lakers squad. Every championship team needs those super stars. The players that will lead the team, be prolific on offense, and fight hard on the defensive end. But every championship team needs that third man. That player who can pick up the slack and provide solid minutes on the offensive and defensive side of the floor. That has to be Kyle Kuzma. He has not been great in these playoffs, averaging 10.5 points per-game. However, if Kuzma can pick it up and have a few break out games, he will cause some real problems for the Heat.
This will be an interesting series to say the least. LeBron will face his former team that brought him his first NBA title in an effort to claim his first as a Laker. Anthony Davis and Jimmy Butler, two elite players in the NBA, will attempt to hold up their first title. The Heat will face an overwhelming amount of talent while the Lakers will take on a young and gritty team. The NBA Finals will begin on Wednesday and will be aired on ABC at 8:00 p.m.
My pick: Los Angeles Lakers in 6.
The Contender 