2019-20 NBA Finals Preview: Miami Heat vs. Los Angeles Lakers

After a rough season for the NBA plagued by a series of unforeseen events, the epic 2020 season that has been filled with so many twists and turns finally reaches its grand climax. In the Battle of the Sunshine States, the road for both the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat was a long one but they also took significantly different paths in order to reach this shining moment. With Game 1 of the NBA Finals just 24 hours away, let’s take a look at some of the biggest storylines and matchups as these two franchises collide in hopes of becoming the first ever NBA Bubble Playoff Champion.

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LeBron, AD Playing with A Chip

Despite entering the playoffs with the best record in the Western Conference at 52-19, the Los Angeles Lakers were slighted in favor of the now eliminated LA Clippers. With two superstars in LeBron James and Anthony Davis, potentially the best duo in basketball right now, you would think that they would have been shown a bit more respect.

Nonetheless, their star power went unnoticed. It started when Giannis Antetokounmpo snatched away the Defensive Player of the Year award from Davis. Then he followed that up by also going on to become only the 5^th player in league history to win both the MVP and the DPOY in the same year as he attained the Most Valuable Player award ahead of LeBron James. But to make matters even worse, it is not just that they lost, but how they lost.

In the DPOY race, Antetokounmpo won in a landslide with 75 1^st place votes to Davis’ 14 votes despite Davis averaging more blocks and steals, while anchoring the number one ranked team defense in the league during the regular season. Then in similar fashion, Antetokounmpo followed up with 85 1^st place votes for MVP to a career-low 14 1^st place votes for LeBron James. The combination of Laker Legend Kobe Bryant passing, the national sports media favoring the in-state rival LA Clippers and the lopsided slighting in the NBA Awards voting has all culminated to this moment.

In these NBA Playoffs they both have responded to the naysayers with outstanding play. In leading their team to 12-3 this postseason, the superstar duo has combined for 55.5 points, 12.5 assists, and 19.6 rebounds per game while both shooting better than 50% from the floor. Now it all comes down to this final seven game series where James looks to become the first player to ever win Finals MVP for three different franchises, and Davis looks to etch himself into the pantheon alongside former All-Star big men like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal who brought championships to the storied Lakers franchise.

Butler, Heat Do Not Feel Like Underdogs

Although this matchup between the Lakers and Heat comes off as a battle of David and Goliath on paper, you better not tell Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat that. In a recent press conference, the Heat star made it clear that he does not care what the odds were or who believes in them as he went on to say “I just don’t think that we’re underdogs. So, what that nobody picked us to be here, that’s okay. I’m pretty sure no one is picking us to win either, that’s okay. But we understand that, and we embrace that cause at the end of the day we don’t care.”

Miami entered the playoffs with 60-1 odds to reach the Finals entering the playoffs  and now are one of the biggest Finals underdogs in league history with +300 odds to win the championship. But despite all the national doubt and the fact that the Heat will be facing off against one of the greatest players in NBA history in LeBron James and one of the best big men in the modern NBA in Anthony Davis, Miami’s play this postseason has shown that they should not be taken lightly.

The Heat are 12-3 just like the Lakers with notable series victories over the Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics who were both potential favorites to come out of the East. They also have six players averaging double figures with Butler and Goran Dragic averaging 20 and the two Kentucky guys in Bam Adebayo (18.5) and Tyler Herro (16.5) both stepping up in big moments for this team despite still being so young in their careers. This is a team that plays together, plays elite level team defense (Ranked 2^nd overall behind only the Lakers) and they have multiple guys who can get hot on a given night which makes them dangerous in a seven game series where you cannot just scheme to neutralize a team’s best player.

This team reminds me of the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons team that may not have been more talented than ironically that Shaq-Kobe Lakers team, but their grit and overall team chemistry allowed them to not only win that series, but they did so in dominating fashion. If history repeats itself then when you really think about it, calling Miami the underdog feels more like taking their talent for granted. Do not sleep on the Heat in this series.

History in the Making

Taking a look at this series from a wider lens, this NBA Finals honestly is one of the most special matchups that we have seen in recent memory. For the first time in at least the last five years, the NBA Finals actually feels shocking.

For the longest time we as fans were stuck conceding the season by penciling in a dynastic Golden State Warriors team or any team led by LeBron James back when he was in the Eastern Conference. This year it was the Clippers who most thought would represent the West and they collapsed in the second round. The Miami Heat upset not one, but two of the East’s top titans in back to back series while doing so in a relatively dominant fashion. I know that regardless of the winner, a handful of people will write this year’s champion off with asterisks because of the circumstances of this season.

But I actually believe that the circumstances of this season and of this year as a whole makes it where the perseverance, mental fortitude and team brotherhood honestly makes this one of the hardest championships to win in league history. All these guys had their backs against the wall facing the chance that this season may not have continued.

Now they have the pleasure and opportunity to be the last two teams standing above all the adversity to potentially take home the Larry O’Brien trophy in a year like 2020 that will go down as one of the most memorable times in American history.