After just one game in the 2020 NBA Finals, the luster has been detached from the Miami Heat. The Los Angeles Lakers drilled 15 threes, Anthony Davis scored 34 points and LeBron James was one assist away from a triple-double. Final score: Lakers 116, Heat 98.
Just like that, the Lakers made their presence felt on the game’s biggest stage.
Unfortunately for Miami, two of their most important players left Wednesday’s game with injuries. Center Bam Adebayo (neck strain) and point guard Goran Dragic (plantar tear) are both listed as doubtful for Game 2 on Friday night.[[ad:athena]]
“It’s a shame that two straight NBA Finals will be decided by injuries,” one Las Vegas bookmaker told NBC Sports. “I had a lot of respect for Miami, but they can’t win this series with Bam and Dragic all banged up. Even Jimmy Butler rolled his ankle last night. That’s a nightmare scenario.”
Of course, he’s referring to the Raptors winning last year’s Finals with Warriors stars Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson suffering season-ending injuries. Circumstances are obviously a lot different this year, because Golden State was a favorite and Miami was a sizable underdog.
But still.
Having to watch David take on Goliath without the slingshot and rock is going to be painful.
Bookmakers initially adjusted the point spread from Lakers -4.5 in Game 1 to Lakers -8 heading into Game 2. And PointsBet Sportsbook is now dealing Lakers -9.5 after the news on Adebayo and Dragic came across.
“We had to make the initial adjustment after the first game that everybody watched,” the bookmaker added. “A lot of those bettors that were all over the Heat are going to flip. And the Lakers could’ve won that game by 30+ if they didn’t take the foot off the gas. It’s just a total mismatch now.”
Speaking to that, PointsBet doesn’t even have a Finals series price available. One American book has Lakers -4000, which implies 98 percent probability.
In other words, that’s all she wrote.
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