NBA Finals Game 4: After Jimmy Butler excelled in Game 3, Greg Frank looks for the Lakers to rebound coming off a loss to the Heat
Heat (+7.5) @ Lakers (216.5)
Pick: Lakers 1st half -4.5 and -7.5
Give credit to Miami for its performance on Sunday night in Game 3. The Heat won every quarter and Jimmy Butler had a triple-double. Now, ask yourself how replicable either of those two things are heading into tonight’s Game 4. The Lakers lost one game in each series in the Western Conference playoffs. In the ensuing games after those losses, they went 3-0 and 2-0-1 against the spread, winning by an average margin of over 12 points per game. Everything had to go right for the Heat to get a victory in this series and that’s basically what happened in Game 3. Anthony Davis had a much more pedestrian 15 points and 5 rebounds for Los Angeles and the Lakers collectively shot just 43% from the field. I’m betting on tonight looking a lot like Game 1 and not being very competitive at all which is why I like the Lakers to cover both the first half and full game lines.