2020 NBA Finals Betting Preview: Heat Vs. Lakers

The 2020 NBA Finals are now set after the Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics on Sunday, winning their series 4-2. The Lakers also took care of business on Saturday, coasting to a 4-1 victory of the Denver Nuggets in Western Conference Finals.

Miami and Los Angeles will now play a seven-game series to decide an NBA Championship. All games will still be played in the NBA bubble in Orlando.

The Heat are the home team in Game 1, which will be played on Wednesday, Sept 30th at 9 PM EST. It will be broadcasted on ABC.

NBA Finals Betting Odds

NBA FInals Series Odds
Heat	+285
Lakers	-355
Bet On The 2020 NBA Finals At

As expected, the Lakers are large favorites in the NBA Finals at -355 odds to hoist the trophy. LeBron and Company have a clear advantage against the Heat, which are sitting at +285 to spring the upset by the oddsmakers at MyBookie.ag. 

Do The Heat Have A Realistic Chance To Beat The Lakers?

In my opinion, no. The East was simply a weaker conference, and they deserve a lot of credit for getting to this point, but I feel like Los Angeles has a massive advantage in this series.

Miami does have one of the best defenses in the NBA, but their zone may not be as effective against the Lakers. Anthony Davis and not Daniel Theis will be the guy catching the ball down low for Los Angeles.

That’s an All-Star and one of the best players in the league, versus a fringe starter.

Some have compared this Heat team to the 2004 Detroit Pistons, a formidable group of hard-nosed players that defeated a star-studded Lakers team, featuring Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton, and Karl Malone in the NBA Finals that year.

The Heat do have a lot of depth and some excellent talent, but at this point, L.A. seems like the unstoppable force, and I’m not so sure Miami is anything close to the immovable object.

I rarely advocate laying -300 or more when it comes to series prices (or in general, for that matter), but I can’t argue with a Lakers bet here. However, I think there is a better way to attack this series.

Heat vs Lakers – Exact Series Results

Most online betting sites, including MyBookie.ag, offer odds on the exact series results, meaning we can choose which team wins and by how many games. For example, we can bet the Lakers to in the series 4-3 at +450 odds, or L.A. to win four games to three.

I think we can get a little more bang for our buck if we take the Lakers to win in the exact series results market. MyBookie.ag has the Lakers winning 4-0 at +420 and them winning 4-1 at +270.

If we place a unit or so on both of these bets, only one has to win for us to make a profit.

NBA Finals Game 1 Totals Betting Odds

NBA Finals Game 1 Total Points 218
Miami Heat +5	-105
Los Angeles Lakers -5	-115

The Lakers are a -5 favorite in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. I lean towards them in this game on the point spread. I also think the under is worth a look with Miami’s slower pace and strong defense.