Lakers vs Heat NBA Finals Props – Best Player Prop Bets for Game 3

• The Los Angeles Lakers took a 2-0 NBA Finals lead over the Miami Heat with a win on Friday
• Game 3 tips off on Sunday with Miami optimistic Bam Adebayo will return
• Player prop bets present some of the best value betting options for Sunday’s pivotal game

This has been a disappointing NBA Finals so far. Injuries to Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic have deprived us of a competitive series – the Lakers have dominated both games and a sweep seems a real possibility.

Game 3 of the Finals tips off at 9:00pm EST on Sunday, October 4th. Adebayo is expected to play. While Game 2 felt near enough a must-win, there’s no question the Heat need to take Game 3 if they are to put up a fight in this series. No team in NBA history has come from 3-0 down. The Lakers are massive NBA championship odds favorites.

The table below has three of the best player props for Sunday’s game – featuring LeBron James and Jimmy Butler.

NBA Finals Game 3 Player Props

Odds taken from DraftKings on October 4th

LeBron James the Scorer

LeBron James cruised to a 33-9-9 night in Game 2. Anthony Davis was near-perfect from the field for the majority of the game, but James was just as unstoppable. He went 14-for-25 from the field, and enjoyed great success against Miami’s zone. The four-time MVP was able to get to the middle and make plays for others or shoot himself and frequently snuck into the dunker’s spot for an easy finish.

Having led the league in assists through the regular season, James has embraced the point guard role. He has been happy to facilitate in these playoffs, too. Alongside that passing and vision, though, he has been doing plenty of scoring. In eight of the Lakers’ 17 playoff games he’s gone over 28.5 points, and he’s passed 35 on four occasions. He’s shot the ball solidly from three of late, going 11-for-31 since Game 1 of the Conference Finals.

It’s easy, and understandable, to focus on James’ playmaking or his return to being an elite defensive performer. The scoring can be taken for granted. Miami has players to throw at him on paper in Jae Crowder, Jimmy Butler and Andre Iguodala, but none have been able to slow him down in the opening two games. James has been able to get where he wants.

The performances of Rajon Rondo have allowed him to play off-ball more, too. With Rondo handling it, LeBron becomes a devastating lob threat and will take advantage of any defensive lapses with powerful cuts to the basket.

Just as he took over late on against Denver in Game 5, James might look to do the same in what is effectively a clinch game for the Lakers. He will be well aware a big scoring night could swing Finals MVP in his favor as well.

Pick: Over 28.5 points (-106)

Butler’s Playmaking

In the absence of Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic, Jimmy Butler put in an epic Game 2 performance. He drove to the basket frequently, but with so much defensive attention on him, and the Lakers aggressively helping when he attacked, he showed his awareness to pick out open teammates. The 13 assists he registered only tell half the story – Butler was making pinpoint passes at all angles, often picking apart this great Lakers defense.

Butler played just shy of 45 minutes and was -3. The Heat lost by 10. The seven-for-17 from the field doesn’t demonstrate just how important Butler was in Game 2. The offense ran through him in a way it hasn’t for most of these playoffs – his usage rate was several percent higher than it has been for the rest of the post-season. Adebayo’s return opens up other avenues for the Heat to go down offensively, but with no Dragic, Butler remains their primary perimeter creator.

Only three times in these playoffs has Butler gone over 6.5 assists. Two of those came in the Conference Finals, the other was Game 2. That shouldn’t put bettors off the over, however.

"Ight."

—Jimmy Butler pic.twitter.com/hPy8Wno2es

— ESPN (@espn) October 1, 2020

The Lakers’ defense, the combination of rim protection and early help on his drives, forces Butler to pass, perhaps more than he’d like to. The Heat have sufficient shooting to knock down enough of the open shots Butler generates – he should hit the over.

Pick: Over 6.5 assists (-110)

KCP Keeps Shooting

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was derided throughout the regular season. He has stepped up his game in the post-season, providing shooting and superb defense for this Lakers team. Caldwell-Pope is the Lakers’ third-highest scorer in this series so far, and his 31.1 minutes averaged across the opening two games is markedly more than any other Laker outside of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. That continues a trend throughout these playoffs as their third-most used player.

When the @Lakers went down 13 in the first quarter it was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who turned it around for the team, scoring 10 points in the quarter.

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) October 1, 2020

While his 11 points and four-for-14 shooting wasn’t grabbing any headlines in Game 2, the shot quantity is an important factor. He took 11 attempts from three on Friday. It was only the fourth time in this post-season that he’s taken more than six shots from beyond the arc in a game.

Only hitting two of those 11 might seem a concern with the line set at 1.5, but it shows Caldwell-Pope’s willingness to keep shooting, something that is crucial to the Lakers’ floor spacing. He will get open looks as the Heat send double teams at James and Davis, that’s a given, and he was getting plenty of good looks against the Heat’s much-discussed zone defense.

Having shot 38.7% from three throughout these playoffs, it’s reasonable to view his Game 2 shooting performance as an anomaly.

Pick: Over 1.5 threes (-177)