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Sports Interaction Staff
Lakers vs. Heat Game 4 Prediction: NBA Finals Odds, Point Spread
On the back of Jimmy Butler’s 40-point performance, the Heat are back in this series.
Butler is now only the third player to ever record a triple-double in the NBA Finals and the first to do it in a win, after leading the Heat to a 115-104 victory in Game 3 on Sunday. It will be interesting to see how the Lakers respond to a game they were never really in, although they still lead the series 2-1. L.A. is once again the favourite for Game 4, but oddsmakers have dropped them to 7.5-point favourites. The total opened at 218.5 points.
NBA Finals Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Game 4 is huge for both teams. The Heat put themselves back in this series on Sunday and can tie it up on Tuesday, but if the 7.5-point favourite Lakers can take a 3-1 series lead, they’ll push themselves to the brink of their first NBA title in 10 years.
For the most part in these playoffs, the Lakers have been able to put points on the board, with the over going 4-1 in their last five games overall. The over is an identical 4-1 in the Heat’s last five games playing on one day rest, while the under is 9-2 in their last 11 games against a team with a winning straight up record. Miami is 5-0 against the spread (ATS) in their last five games as 5-10.5-point underdogs.
Los Angeles Lakers
It was a historic performance for Jimmy Butler in Game 3, as he became only the third player in NBA History (behind LeBron James and Jerry West) to record a triple-double in a finals game and the first to do it in a win. Butler finished with 40 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds. Butler wasn’t the only player stepping up in Miami’s biggest game of the year. With Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic missing their second straight game on Sunday, players like Kelly Olynyk are playing huge roles. After seeing limited playing time before the Adebayo and Dragic injuries, Olynyk contributed 17 points in Game 3, accounting for 17 of the Heat’s 24 bench points.
Miami Heat
Nothing was clicking in Game 3, as Sunday was an uncharacteristically sloppy performance for the Lakers. As LeBron James goes, so do his teams. Although LeBron had a team-high 25 points in Game 3 (including 10 rebounds and 8 assists), he recorded eight turnovers after having none in Game 2. As a team L.A. had 10 turnovers in the first quarter alone in Game 3 after recording only nine turnovers in all of Game 2. After dominating Games 1 and 2 with a combined 66 points, the Lakers other superstar, Anthony Davis, ran into foul trouble in Game 3. Davis picked up his third foul by the start of the second quarter and finished the game with 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the field.
LAL
MIA