{"id":150417,"date":"2020-09-29T07:55:47","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T14:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=150417"},"modified":"2020-09-29T10:13:51","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T17:13:51","slug":"los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 11 months after the basketball season tipped off, it will come to a close with the start of the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"Los
The Los Angeles Lakers, led by LeBron James (23), are heavy favorites to beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. (Kim Klement\/USA TODAY Sports<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While plenty has changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic that shuttered the league for four-and-a-half months and shifted the action to Orlando, Fla., one thing remains the same. The public is backing the Lakers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Lakers are big-time favorites to win their 17th NBA championship. They are -400 to win the series, while the Heat is +300.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavy Liability on Lakers<\/h2>\n

When the season started in October, the Los Angeles Clippers were the championship favorites at +425, followed closely by the Lakers (+450) and Milwaukee Bucks (+550). Those three jockeyed for betting position all season. Ultimately, though, the Lakers were the last of those teams left standing.<\/p>\n

The Lakers have been the play dating back even prior to COVID, when it seemed like they were really in their stretch,\u201d <\/strong>said Patrick Eichner, PointsBet\u2019s director of communications, to\u00a0Casino.org<\/em>. \u201cThat trend has continued. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Clippers were probably the original popular play once we got to the bubble,” <\/strong>Eichner continued. “The Lakers had some struggles out of the gate in finding their team chemistry again, but they have been a big liability for us the entire season. They\u2019ll continue to be a big liability for us here. I imagine, just in terms of tickets, the Lakers will certainly be favored in terms of actual bets placed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For Game 1, the Lakers are 5-point favorites with an over\/under of 217.5 points. On the moneyline, Los Angeles is -200 and Miami is +170.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can\u2019t Beat the Heat<\/h2>\n

Miami is a big underdog, just as it was at the start of the season when it was a distant +6,000 to win the championship.<\/p>\n

However, the Heat shouldn\u2019t be discounted. It has cruised through the playoffs as only the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, with a 4-0 sweep of the Indiana Pacers, a shocking 4-1 dismantling of the top-seeded Bucks<\/a>, and a 4-2 victory over the Boston Celtics to win the East.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see, as we get a little bit deeper into the series \u2013 particularly if the Heat go down 1-0 and that price extends even farther \u2013 the Heat might wind up being a big liability for us,\u201d <\/strong>Eichner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve proven they\u2019re a ridiculously tough basketball team and aren\u2019t really fazed by what\u2019s going on and can go ahead and come back. I could see there being a decent liability on the Heat just because you\u2019re getting them at a plus number,\u201d <\/strong>he continued.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For NBA Finals MVP, the Lakers\u2019 LeBron James is a heavy favorite at -213. Teammate Anthony Davis is +300. Miami\u2019s top picks are Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, who are both +900.<\/p>\n

For exact series outcome at PointsBet, the Lakers are the top four choices: +300 for a 4-0 sweep, +275 for 4-1, +375 for 4-2 and +550 for 4-3. For Miami, it\u2019s +5,000 for a sweep, +2,000 for 4-1, +1,200 for 4-2 and +800 for 4-3.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Game 2 is set for Friday, with Game 3 on Sunday and Game 4 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Lakers are heavy favorites to win their 17th NBA championship. They are -400 to win the series while the Miami Heat is +300.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":150418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[81254,81255,81735,81033,81259],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLos Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship - Casino.org Los Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Los Angeles Lakers are heavy favorites to win their 17th NBA championship. They are -400 to win the series while the Miami Heat is +300. The Los Angeles Lakers are heavy favorites to win their 17th NBA championship. They are -400 to win the series while the Miami Heat is +300.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Los Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship - Casino.org Los Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Los Angeles Lakers are heavy favorites to win their 17th NBA championship. They are -400 to win the series while the Miami Heat is +300. The Los Angeles Lakers are heavy favorites to win their 17th NBA championship. They are -400 to win the series while the Miami Heat is +300.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-29T14:55:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-29T17:13:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/USATSI_14989605.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bill Huber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bill Huber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/\",\"name\":\"Los Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship - Casino.org Los Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/USATSI_14989605.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-29T14:55:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-29T17:13:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/00e12fc979921c0eca390f3517794a79\"},\"description\":\"The Los Angeles Lakers are heavy favorites to win their 17th NBA championship. They are -400 to win the series while the Miami Heat is +300. The Los Angeles Lakers are heavy favorites to win their 17th NBA championship. They are -400 to win the series while the Miami Heat is +300.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/USATSI_14989605.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/USATSI_14989605.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"The Los Angeles Lakers, led by LeBron James (23), are heavy favorites to beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. (Kim Klement\/USA TODAY Sports)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Los Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/00e12fc979921c0eca390f3517794a79\",\"name\":\"Bill Huber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Bill-Huber-bio-profile-pic-CORG-EN-News-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Bill-Huber-bio-profile-pic-CORG-EN-News-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Bill Huber\"},\"description\":\"Sports, sportsbetting----Football, from games to the draft, is Bill Huber\u2019s passion. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, a Division III powerhouse where Bill watched games from the bench for a few seasons, he's reported on the NFL\u2019s Green Bay Packers since 2008, first for Packer Report and now for Sports Illustrated\u2019s Packer Central. He's covered two Super Bowls, writing features so insightful that they made some players\u2019 moms cry. When not writing about football, he loves camping with his family, coaching his kids, playing with his two golden retrievers. But his real joy is in going toe-to-toe in cribbage with his wife. Email: bill.huber@casino.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/bill-huber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Los Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship - Casino.org Los Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship","description":"The Los Angeles Lakers are heavy favorites to win their 17th NBA championship. They are -400 to win the series while the Miami Heat is +300. The Los Angeles Lakers are heavy favorites to win their 17th NBA championship. They are -400 to win the series while the Miami Heat is +300.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Los Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship - Casino.org Los Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship","og_description":"The Los Angeles Lakers are heavy favorites to win their 17th NBA championship. They are -400 to win the series while the Miami Heat is +300. The Los Angeles Lakers are heavy favorites to win their 17th NBA championship. They are -400 to win the series while the Miami Heat is +300.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2020-09-29T14:55:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-09-29T17:13:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/USATSI_14989605.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bill Huber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bill Huber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/","name":"Los Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship - Casino.org Los Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/USATSI_14989605.jpg","datePublished":"2020-09-29T14:55:47+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-29T17:13:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/00e12fc979921c0eca390f3517794a79"},"description":"The Los Angeles Lakers are heavy favorites to win their 17th NBA championship. They are -400 to win the series while the Miami Heat is +300. The Los Angeles Lakers are heavy favorites to win their 17th NBA championship. They are -400 to win the series while the Miami Heat is +300.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/USATSI_14989605.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/USATSI_14989605.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"The Los Angeles Lakers, led by LeBron James (23), are heavy favorites to beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. (Kim Klement\/USA TODAY Sports)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/los-angeles-lakers-heavy-favorites-to-beat-miami-heat-for-nba-championship\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Los Angeles Lakers Heavy Favorites to Beat Miami Heat for NBA Championship"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/00e12fc979921c0eca390f3517794a79","name":"Bill Huber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Bill-Huber-bio-profile-pic-CORG-EN-News-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Bill-Huber-bio-profile-pic-CORG-EN-News-96x96.jpg","caption":"Bill Huber"},"description":"Sports, sportsbetting----Football, from games to the draft, is Bill Huber\u2019s passion. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, a Division III powerhouse where Bill watched games from the bench for a few seasons, he's reported on the NFL\u2019s Green Bay Packers since 2008, first for Packer Report and now for Sports Illustrated\u2019s Packer Central. He's covered two Super Bowls, writing features so insightful that they made some players\u2019 moms cry. When not writing about football, he loves camping with his family, coaching his kids, playing with his two golden retrievers. But his real joy is in going toe-to-toe in cribbage with his wife. Email: bill.huber@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/bill-huber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150417"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}