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Saturday update: Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic are both being listed as doubtful for Sunday’s Game 3 of NBA Finals.
Miami’s Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic being listed doubtful for Game 3 of NBA Finals against the Lakers, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 3, 2020
UPDATE: Adebayo is planning on playing in Game 3 vs. the Lakers on Sunday, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported late Friday night.
Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo (neck strain) tells @YahooSports he plans to return for Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Sunday. https://t.co/dnQrld1bCi pic.twitter.com/gY54qg1nyz
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) October 3, 2020
Miami Heat C Bam Adebayo will not play in Game 2 of the 2020 NBA Finals vs. the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported. Adebayo will try to return for Game 3 on Sunday and there’s optimism he’ll be back before the series is over.
Miami Heat All-Star Bam Adebayo (shoulder) will miss Game 2 of the NBA Finals vs. Lakers tonight, but there remains hope that he could return for Game 3 on Sunday, sources tell ESPN. The Heat have listed him as doubtful for tonight.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 2, 2020
Adebayo injured his shoulder in the second half of Game 1, which resulted in a 116-98 loss for the Heat. Down 1-0, Miami could be without both Adebayo and PG Goran Dragic (foot), who was also listed as doubtful heading into Game 2 on Friday. Adebayo was diagnosed with a shoulder strain after X-rays came back negative. The All-Star center had appeared to hurt the shoulder during the Eastern Conference Finals vs. the Boston Celtics but was able to finish the series.
DFS and betting impact of Bam Adebayo injury
I’ve outlined a lot of ways you can approach both injuries for the Heat. You can go all-in with the Lakers knowing that this game may not be competitive. You can also take the cheap value in Kelly Olynyk ($3,000) and Solomon Hill ($2,600). There’s reason to like Jimmy Butler ($9,800) given the amount of usage he’ll pick up but it’ll be hard to keep the Lakers’ defense honest without two starters. Jae Crowder ($7,400) should pick up more minutes at PF and get more chances at rebounds. My guess is Olynyk starts at center but we could also see Hill depending on what coach Erik Spoelstra wants to do.
This line went from -8 for the Lakers to -9.5 when Adebayo was listed as doubtful along with Dragic. Once both are confirmed out, we could see some more movement on the spread. If you didn’t grab the Lakers at -8 the other day, getting them at -9.5 still feels good to me given the injuries and how the two teams played in Game 1. I’d check out assist totals for Miami as well. No Dragic and Adebayo means about 9-10 assists per game needs to be compensated for. That could mean Kendrick Nunn, Tyler Herro or Jimmy Butler get more dimes. All three will need to handle the ball more.