Bam Adebayo, Goran Dragic remain out for Game 3 vs. Lakers

Miami Heat PG Goran Dragic and C Bam Adebayo will remain sidelined for Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night. Adebayo and Dragic were both sidelined for the Heat’s 124-114 loss to the Lakers in Game 2 on Friday night. Adebayo is dealing with a shoulder strain and Dragic has a tear in his plantar fascia in his left foot.

This is pretty much the Heat’s season on the line Sunday night. No team has overcome a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs in the NBA. Adebayo and Dragic had wanted to return for this game but their injuries are too much to overcome, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported before the game. So we’ll likely see the same rotation of players from Game 2. Let’s get into some DFS and betting analysis.

Fantasy basketball and betting impact

For the Showdown on DraftKings, there are a few clear plays. The first one is Kelly Olynyk ($3,200), who didn’t start in place of Adebayo in Game 2 but played the bulk of the minutes at center. Miami could opt to just start Olynyk rather than Meyers Leonard, who barely played in Game 2. With Dragic out, Jimmy Butler ($9,800) is chalk again and honestly you shouldn’t be fading him in this Showdown. Butler played 45 of 48 minutes in Game 2 and had 13 assists as the primary ball-handler in place of Dragic.

So with Olynyk and Butler being chalky, Kendrick Nunn ($4,400) also lands in that group. He played 29 minutes off the bench with Tyler Herro starting. Nunn was the 6th man off the bench and had another 20+ DKFP performance. Nunn should have slightly lower ownership than Butler and Olynyk, but is probably only viable in the UTIL slot. Butler makes for the most appealing Captain at $14,700.

The spread remains -9.5 in favor of the Lakers. In Game 2, that spread got as high as -10.5 and this is pretty much the same situation. I’m going to continue to back the Lakers as long as the spread is below double digits. The Heat pushed back a lot in Game 2 and made things somewhat interesting and still lost by 10 points and trail by a sizable amount at halftime. If you’re L.A., you don’t want the Heat to steal Game 3 and then get Dragic and/or Adebayo back in the lineup with some momentum. Check out some of my favorite player props for Game 3 below.

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