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It’s time for a decisive battle in the National Basketball Association (NBA), with Western Conference champions Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat triumphing in the East battling for four title series victories.
Both teams went through a true renaissance this season and marched to the finals after going overboard for the playoffs last season, ranking 10th in their conferences. The additions to Jimmy Butler and Anthony Davis helped turn things around.
The Lakers are considered bright favorites in the series, but the Heat have started from fifth in the Eastern Conference and have already put up three teams that have performed better in the regular season: the Indiana Pacers, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics. The Miami club would hardly stop now.
The Krepsinis.net portal will help to review the essential events of this series and will provide a forecast of a possible outcome.
Mutual matches. The teams met twice this season and the Lakers were stronger both at home (95:80) and away (113: 110). Admittedly, both matches took place very early in the season, the last time the teams met on December 14, 2019.
It can be distinguished that in one of the games Goran Dragic did not play, and in the other the Slovenian got up from the bench. In the playoffs, meanwhile, the player is one of the key players on the team, which is likely to cause opponents a lot of trouble. While the Lakers have already reinforced Markieff Morris after these games, District Rondo is completely healthy, although Avery Bradley does not play in the bubble.
Playoff appearance. The Lakers march with extreme confidence: intrigue in the first games, then defeat all opponents, winning all three series 4: 1 (against Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets). In Los Angeles, there is a huge gap between stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who is above the 26-point average, and the remaining players, Kyle Kuzma, are the only ones to achieve double-digit performance (10.5 points).
Miami basketball players also march with extreme confidence. They never had favorite status, but they also stumbled only 3 times in 15 games, defeating the Pacers 4: 0, eliminating the Bucks 4: 1 and eliminating the Celtics 4: 2. Interestingly, in all series the most Productive of the team was G.Dragičius against Pacers (22.8 points), Butler against Bucks (23.4 points) and Bamas Adebayo against Celtics (21, 8 points). Previously, only four clubs demonstrated such diversity, and all eventually became NBA champions (the 1999 San Antonio Spurs, the 1990 Detroit Pistons, and the 1985 and 1988 Lakers).
Central duel. Both teams in these playoffs rely heavily on their emotional leaders: L. James and J. Butler. In the final series, they should spend a lot of time defending themselves, as Butler has been known down his throat for staring at rival stars, and James demonstrated that leadership in crucial moments in the Western Conference finals by facing Yamal Murray.
Both basketball players are extremely versatile, great on and off the ball, and can break the end of the game even without scoring a lot of points. James will play the final for the tenth time and J. Butler will have such an experience, but the strength of his character leaves no doubt about the forward’s chances. The outcome of many games is likely to be decided in the closing seconds, and in this regard both James and Butler are also among the best in the league, adding additional intrigue.
Other cornerstones. The remaining players in the starting five can also be examined in pairs. His eyes immediately turn to the confrontation between A. Davis and B. Adebay. A representative of the Lakers is considered to be the prototype of today’s tall man, who can rack up points in the basket, attack from a distance and organize the game. With his talent, he far surpasses his opponent, but B. Adebayo is probably the most unfavorable opponent for A. Davis among all the high states in the league. A strong but mobile midfielder can reliably defend both in the penalty area and on the perimeter, without losing his athleticism in front of the players. In attack, Davis’ contribution to the Los Angeles club is deadly, and Adebayo will keep it to a minimum.
How the brightest snipers from both teams join this series will also be important. Danny Green is ridiculed for throwing all the rebounds, although in reality his hit rate is not that low (36.4 percent). His counterpart at the Miami club is Duncan Robinson, whose productivity has dropped a bit compared to the regular season, but he is still scoring three points with 40 percent accuracy, scoring 11.3 points per game and is still an important part. of the Heat puzzle.
When organizing the attack, both teams rely heavily on their players: G. Dragičius and R. Rondas. Both are team basketball players, Slovenia demonstrates European-style basketball, when without making many passes puts players in their places and creates opportunities for shots, and R. Rondo is among the leaders in the playoffs with 7.2 assists per game. He’s coming up from the substitutes’ bench, so he probably won’t have many head-to-head confrontations with G.Dragičius, and his importance to the team is slightly less than that of the Slovenian.
X Factor. Tyler Herro must be featured again in the Heat, and his role in each series is increasingly important. At just 20 years old, the defender scored as many as 19.2 points in the conference final against the Celtics, with as many as 37 in Game 4 of the series. It will be interesting to see how many minutes he has in the title battle and how the Lakers will stop this youngster.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles club shouldn’t miss out on Dwight Howard’s contribution. The high in the conference final simply dominated creating a second chance for teammates, and can do the same in deciding matches. When teams met in minor regular-season games, Lakers midfielders handled Adebayo, leaving David in the hands of Meyers Leonard or Jae Crowder. Meanwhile, in the final series, each attack will be much more important, B. Adebayo should stick to A. Davis and D. Howard will have a shorter opponent. The midfielder got his last experience in 2009, leading the Orlando Magic, and after 11 years of getting a second chance, he will do everything he can not to waste it.
Historical perspective. There are no clear parallels between these teams. The most obvious is the story of L. James: in 2013 he chose a ring with the Miami club, which is still run by Eric Spoelstra himself, and the atmosphere in the dressing room is created by veteran Udon Haslem. James himself says that doesn’t put pressure on him anymore, but he definitely has certain feelings. In the event of a loss, he could be ridiculed for his promise to bring more and more rings to the Heat.
“I’m not going to sit here and act like I don’t know what Spo is about. Because it’s very good “
LeBron pays Erik Spoelstra the utmost respect 💯 pic.twitter.com/JUq8tZkq8w
– Bleach Report (@BleacherReport) September 29, 2020
James will have to meet other good acquaintances in this series. His showdown with Andre Iguodala continues from the Cleveland Cavaliers, the San Francisco Golden State Warriors finals and James’ famous block. Iguodala is likely to replace J. Butler in the short stretches of this series by slowing down the Lakers star. James’ good friend Jae Crowder may also be involved in stopping him.
R.Rondo claims to become the first player in history to win rings with both legendary franchises – Celtics and Lakers – who would do so even 12 years apart. Meanwhile, Lakers member Dion Waiters would claim the ring anyway, as the season began in Miami. It’s true that Jonas Valančiūnas, who applied for the title in the same way last year, did not receive the ring, and D.Waiters’ reputation in the Heat organization is not the best.
The overall theme of this series is reminiscent of the 2004 final between the Lakers and Pistons. The Los Angeles club at the time had two prominent legends (Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant) and former stars Gary Payton and Karl Malone (corresponding to R. Rondo and D. Howard). Focusing on defense and tough play, the Pistons were considered notable outsiders and also lacked the brightest level of stars, but had a clear vocal leader (Chauncey Billups). The Detroit club presented a surprise similar to the one currently claimed by the Heat. The most obvious difference is that the Lakers did not have a good team atmosphere at the time, Sh. O’Neal and K. Bryant were already in conflict, and this year’s team looks much more united.
Forecast. The Lakers, who are considered clear favorites, should not win “dry”, but the 4: 2 seems like a very realistic option. L.James has accumulated a lot of experience in these types of games and remains in his best physical moment. He is well aware of the criticism of his poor win-loss ratio in the final (3/6) and has already suffered a reputational blow when he lost as a clear favorite (2011 to the Dallas Mavericks). It’s hard to imagine letting that happen again and having the right equipment to prevent it.
The Miami club have hurt their rivals so far in character and fight, but in the East they have faced extremely young leaders (Gianni Antetokounmpo, 25, and Jayson Tatum, 22) and this time they will not have that triumph, so it’s hard to imagine them lifting the Larry O’Brien trophies.
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