On September 30 the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers will play for the NBA championship. The first ever NBA finals was played between the Chicago Staggs and the Philadelphia Warriors in 1947, with the Warriors winning. Since then there have been a total of 73 finals and the Lakers have made appearances in 32 of those, while the Heat have been to five.
The Lakers are very familiar with winning finals; they have won a total of 16. Their starters include Lebron James, Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard, Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. The Lakers are shooting 48 percent from the field and 35.5 percent from the three-point line. The Lakers are allowing 106.9 points per game while averaging 114.3 points per game. Some players to watch are Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Lebron, has made it to the finals 10 times by himself and is looking for his fourth championship ring. Lebron is averaging 25.3 points per game, and 10.2 assists. He can boost any team he is on and is a huge offensive and defensive threat anywhere on the court. Davis is scoring 26.1 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game. Davis pairs very well with Lebron; he can score easily and takes pressure off of Lebron, so defenders have to guard both of them. The biggest weakness of the Lakers is the help. Outside of James and Davis, only two players are averaging above 10 points. If the team can play well together, they have a very good chance of winning this year.
This is the first time since 2014 the Miami heat have been in the finals. The starting five for the Heat include Bam Adebayo, Jae Crowder, Jimmy Butler, Duncan Robinson and Gorgan Dragic. The Heat are shooting 47 percent from the field and 38.3 percent from the three-point line. Miami averages 112.2 points per game while giving up 108.9 points per game. Key players for the miami heat include Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro. Butler is averaging 19.9 points and six assists. Herro, at only 20 years old, is averaging 13 points per game. While the stats on the board aren’t very impressive, this team works very well together, sharing the ball and scoring evenly amongst each other. The pair were dominant in the playoffs. This team is very young, but that is both a good thing and a bad thing. This team is inexperienced in the finals, compared to the Lakers who have members who have won multiple championship games. It is easy to get caught up in the moment, so if Miami keeps a level head and plays like they have been playing in the playoffs, they can expect to win it all.
