The Los Angeles Lakers Move One Win Away From NBA Title
The 2019/2020 NBA season has been a wild ride. The regular season came to a complete stop in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Getting things restarted hit more than a few bumps in the road. The ultimate restart plan relied heavily on a “bubble” environment in Orlando to play the games.
Will The Los Angeles Lakers Win The NBA Title In The Next Game?
Through it all, Lebron James and the Los Angeles Lakers remained one of the top three teams favored to win. The Milwaukee Bucks were the clear favorites to win the NBA’s Eastern Conference but they made an early exit. The Miami Heat breezed past the Bucks in five games in the second round. The other team in Los Angeles failed to meet expectations when the Clippers were stunned by Denver.
Tuesday’s 102-96 victory against Miami in Game 4 of the NBA Finals gives the Lakers a 3-1 series lead. The games have been close with LA going 1-3 against the spread as the favorite in each contest.
Yet, the veteran leadership of James plus the stellar play of Anthony Davis has been too much for the Heat. Nothing is over until it is over but Miami’s chances to win the remaining three games do not look too good.
What Do The Basketball Odds On The NBA Betting Board Look Like?
The NBA betting board at Intertops online sportsbook tends to agree. The early betting line on Friday’s Game 5 has Los Angeles favored by seven points. The Lakers are designated as the home team but that has little impact on the betting line. The bubble games in Orlando are a neutral site.
The betting odds for the moneyline has the Lakers set at -310 favorites. You can get +260 odds on Miami as the underdog.
I could see betting on the Heat to extend this series one more game. They have outpaced expectations as underdogs throughout these playoffs. They were underdogs against the Bucks in the first four games of that series. In its 4-2 series win against Boston, Miami closed as underdogs in all six games.
Along with the Heats’ straight-up 13-6 record in 19 postseason games, they have gone 15-4 ATS.
Another way to bet Friday’s Game 5 is the UNDER on the 216 ½-point total line. It has stayed UNDER in three of the first four games against slightly higher closing lines. The only game that went OVER was the Lakers’ 124-114 victory in Game 2. The total line closed at 216 ½ points. The other three games have remained rather low-scoring contests.
Assuming that the Lakers go on to win the NBA Championship, the only question would be which LA player is named MVP? James is such a heavy favorite that this betting future is “off the board”. Yet, Davis should still get some of the votes. The duo of James and Davis has finally met expectations when it needed to the most.
The 2019/2020 NBA season will go down as memorable for a number of reasons. The Lakers’ run to a title will be one of them. If Miami comes back to win, that would top the list.
