The Los Angeles Lakers will look to clinch their 17th championship in Game 5 of the 2020 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat on Friday night at 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC. The Lakers lead the best-of-7 series 3-1 and can seal things up with a win. It would make for their fourth straight series win in five games. The Lakers are favored by 7 points and are -335 on the moneyline heading into tonight. We’ll share some picks before tip-off and stick here to sweat out your bets and follow the action!
Final update: Heat 111, Lakers 108 — Jimmy Butler hit a pair of free throws and the Heat held on to win Game 5 and extend the 2020 NBA Finals. The Lakers had a very questionable final possession. The best shot they got off was a LeBron kick out to Danny Green, who bricked the 3-pointer. Markieff Morris got the rebound and turned the ball over. Butler finished with 35 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, plus 5 steals in the win.
This was a hell of an effort from Butler, who basically played the entire game. The Lakers failed to cover the spread. The over hit in this game as well. It’s going to be hard to bet against Jimmy in Game 6 on Sunday, to be honest. He’s had two of the best performances in the NBA Finals ever in this series. LeBron had 40 points, so he finished as the top scorer, which was a nice little save for the player props. Bam Adebayo had over 3.5 assists as well, so not a bad night overall.
A lot of credit for the win outside of Butler is Duncan Robinson, who went off for 26 points on 7-of-13 shooting from outside. The Heat rolled with a seven-man rotation with Kendrick Nunn and Andre Iguodala being the only players to come off the bench. Nunn had 14 points and came up big with some 3-pointers in the second half.
This series definitely isn’t over like most of us thought it would be. The Lakers are now faced with adversity for the first time in the playoffs. The Heat definitely aren’t going away and we could see a Game 7 if Miami can pull off another win on Sunday.
11:27 — LeBron just completed a three-point play for 38 points. The Lakers are up one with under 1:30 left in the game. CRUNCH TIME BABY. Jimmy Butler is going to the line. He has 31-12-11 and five steals. LeBron and Jimmy keep going back and forth. It doesn’t look like the Lakers will cover but who cares at this point, right? This is shaping up to be a classic finish. We’re under a minute to go and Butler has two free throws coming up. If he bangs both, the Heat and L.A. will have the ball.
11:16 — The Lakers have a lead! L.A. is up 97-96 after a 3-pointer from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. LeBron is also up to 33-10-7, so he’s three assists away from a triple-double. With a little over 6 minutes left in the game, the spread is in play. This is going to be a fun one.
11:07 — The Lakers are challenging an offensive foul on LeBron James that should get overturned. No way that was a charge. Anyway, the Lakers are down 93-85 and can’t get any stops. Credit to the Heat for moving the ball well all game. Bam Adebayo has really been an X-Factor down low on offense and defense. LeBron is up to 31 points on 12-of-15 shooting and 6-of-8 from downtown. He’s been unstoppable but the defense just isn’t there for L.A.
Third Quarter recap — The Heat are not messing around. Miami leads 88-82 after the third quarter, trying to extend the series to Game 6 on Sunday. Jimmy Butler is playing out of his mind. He has 27 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists, almost completing a triple-double in three quarters. LeBron and AD have combined for 50 points for the Lakers but have been underwhelming for the most part. L.A. has gotten just 14 points from the bench and 18 points from starters who aren’t LeBron and AD. The spread is maybe in play but it looks like if the Lakers win, it’ll be a one-possession type of scenario. LeBron’s triple-double prospects are also not great.
10:39 — The Lakers have cut he lead to two points, the Heat leading 72-70. Butler just made a layup and-1 and is going to the line. It looks like Dwight Howard is going to get a tech as well for swiping at Butler’s head on the play. LeBron and AD are keeping the Lakers in the game but they need help. The two have combined for over half of the Lakers points so far. Let’s see if the Heat can cling to this lead. It feels like the Lakers are close to taking control. Howard got stuck with a flagrant foul on the play.
Halftime update — So we took our first L of the night with the Lakers failing to cover 4.5 points at halftime. The Heat are up 60-56 in a surprising half. Jimmy Butler scored 22 points with 6 rebounds and 6 assists in the half. He leads all scorers, one point ahead of LeBron James, who has 21 points at halftime. Davis shook off the injury in the first quarter and has 13 points and 7 rebounds. The Lakers kind of went on a run toward the end of the second, so they could come out firing in the second half. Something tells me the Heat aren’t going away.
9:55 — Well, it’s been real Lakers first-half spread. The Heat are up by a decent amount right now and it looks like they’re going to extend the series unless the Lakers go on a run. Still a lot of ball game but Miami has been the better team by a mile. Butler has 13 points and 5 assists to lead the Heat right now.
First Quarter recap — The Heat have a 1-point lead after the first quarter, up 25-24 on the Lakers. Anthony Davis appeared to injure his ankle/foot toward the end of the quarter, but also looked OK before the quarter ended. So we’ll see if AD comes back into the game. Right now, the -4.5 spread for the first half is going to be close for the Lakers. AD has 8 points and 3 rebounds in the quarter. LeBron has 6 points, 2 assists and 2 rebounds after the quarter.
9:32 — Well, things aren’t going great for the Lakers at another timeout. The Heat are up 20-18 and the Lakers look lazy so far. LeBron is out of the game for whatever reason and Davis is forcing shots. We expected some pushback from the Heat, so that’s why we took the Lakers at half and the Lakers on the 7-point spread.
9:29 — The Lakers are up in the early going of the first quarter. It’s 18-13 and the pace is similar to Game 4 when we saw a tighter game. Anthony Davis has 6 points and 3 rebounds, while LeBron James has 4 points and 2 assists early on.
Pre-Game plays — So we’ve got a lot of action for potentially the last game of the season (which is what we’re banking on tonight). We’ve got the Lakers -7 and the Lakers 1H -4 spread. I mentioned a lot of props I like for tonight and we’re chasing the LeBron James triple-double in an elimination game at +235. On top of that, I liked Tyler Herro O2.5 3-pointers on DKSB. I was also on LeBron James as the top point scorer at +130 I believe. So heavily invested in the Lakers tonight. Bam Adebayo O3.5 assists was also in play on the player props write-up, so we’ll track that as well.