The Lakers defeated the Portland Trail Blazers, the Houston Rockets and the Denver Nuggets to get to the Finals doing so in 15 games. Each stage took five games.

The Heat eliminated the Indiana Pacers, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics to reach the Finals in 15 games, as well. They swept the Pacers, dispatched the Bucks in five games and defeated the Celtics in six.

Los Angeles is the favorite to win the series and LeBron James and Anthony Davis will look to get going offensively early.

The Heat have leaned into being counted out and will look to its defense to limit the offensive power of James and Davis. Miami will also look to the many offensive weapons to get out to an early lead.

Here’s how to watch Game 1.

What: NBA Finals

Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Miami Heat

When: Wednesday, Sept. 30

Time: 9 p.m. ET

Where: Disney Wide World of Sports -- Orlando, Florida

The Lakers managed to keep things close until a late push by the Heat, despite an abysmal shooting night from Kobe Bryant. Bryant, the NBA’s leading vote-getter for the 2013 All-Star Game, started out 3-for-17 before catching fire late. Despite his improved play down the stretch, he still finished an ugly 8-for-25 from the floor.

Miami’s swarming defense generated a team-record 14 steals on the night, and the Heat capitalized with 23 points off of turnovers. That defensive aggression helped the Heat withstand another beating on the boards: L.A. outrebounded the Heat 42–35.

In the end, James simply wouldn’t be denied, as he spearheaded Miami’s stunning halfcourt defense in the fourth quarter. Along with Dwyane Wade and Ray Allen, the Heat blitzed L.A.’s ball-handlers, forcing them away from the middle and denying passing lanes to Dwight Howard in the middle.

It was a defensive clinic reminiscent of the one Miami put on during last year’s championship run. L.A. should be mildly encouraged, considering it stayed close against an obviously inspired Heat team. Miami moved to 26–12 with the win, while Los Angeles fell to 17–22 in defeat.

NBA Fials between Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat is starting on 1st October, the two best basketball teams in the world. The NBA Finals in India will be Live broadcasted on Sony Sports and Live Streamed on both Sony LIV and FanCode. The first game of the 7 game series will be played on Thursday morning @ 6.30 AM Indian Standard Time (Wed Eve in USA).

NBA Finals Live : Check what Bam Adebayo is thinking ?

Bam Adebayo woke up on Monday with the realization that only two teams still have a chance to win this season’s NBA championship. Goosebumps kicked in at the thought. What was once a 22-team bubble at Walt Disney World is down to the final two, with Adebayo and the Miami Heat set to take on LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals that start on Wednesday night. It’s the first finals matchup between the clubs, with the Lakers looking for a record-tying 17th title and the Heat seeking their fourth in the last 15 seasons.

“It’s pretty cool considering, when you really think about it, it’s you and one other team that are still left standing and one of the two will be raising the Larry O’Brien Trophy,” Adebayo said Monday. “But we know that the job isn’t done yet.”

The Heat and Lakers only faced off twice this season with Los Angeles winning both meetings.

The first meeting came all the way back on Nov. 6, 2019 — it was just the sixth game of Miami’s season and eighth game of the Lakers’ season. Los Angeles’ defence was stifling, holding the Heat to just 80 points, their lowest scoring total of the entire season.

The Lakers forced Miami to shoot 35.0% from the field and 17.1% from beyond the arc. Jimmy Butler got his with 22 points, but it was a quiet game from Bam Adebayo who only had 11 points and nine rebounds. The Heat had no answer for LeBron James, who went for 25 points and six assists, while Anthony Davis was equally as unstoppable with a stuffed stat sheet of 26 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks.

Their second meeting was a much closer contest, coming on Dec. 13 2019. Miami had a chance to tie the game with a Butler 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it was off the mark as Los Angeles came away with the season-series sweep.

Davis was even more dominant in this one, going off for 33 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. Why is that significant? Because Heat All-Defence Second Team centre Adebayo is going to have to do a much better job of containing A.D. if his team is going to have a chance in The Finals. James was great in this win again, too, with a near-triple-double of 28 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds.

As just mentioned above, the Lakers duo had their way with the Heat in the regular season. The scary part… it was just the regular season.

Both James and Davis have taken their game to another level in the postseason, carrying the Lakers to this point. LeBron nearly averaged a 27-point triple-double in the Western Conference Finals, capped off by an all-time performance to close out the series with 38 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists in Game 5.

And you know King James is going to raise his game again in The Finals. For his career, LeBron has averaged 28.2 points, 10.0 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game in the NBA Finals.

It will be up to Butler and the Heat’s stout zone defence to try and keep James under wraps.

As for Davis, he was the catalyst to Los Angeles’ offence the whole Conference Finals, averaging 31.2 points shooting 54.2% from the field for the series. His marquee playoff moment of his career (so far) came in Game 2 when he scored the final 10 points of the game for the Lakers, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that helped his team maintain control over the series.

Adebayo will certainly draw the tough matchup of trying to stop Davis, and though he didn’t have much success in their regular-season meetings, he’s looked like a different defender as of late in the postseason.

It’s not rocket science: if the Heat are going to take their shot at the title, they’ll have to contain these two superstars.

If you haven’t read enough about LeBron already in this preview, he’s clearly the top player to watch. In his 10th NBA Finals, James has now participated in 13.5% of all NBA Finals in league history, per The Ringer’s Roger Sherman. He’s also aiming to become the first player in league history to win three Finals MVPs with three different franchises. You already know what’s at stake for King James — the opportunity to grow his already incredible legacy in pursuit of becoming the greatest player of all-time.

Bam Adebayo

Adebayo becomes Miami’s most important player in trying to stop Davis. According to NBA stats’ matchup data, Adebayo guarded Davis on 34.9 partial possessions in their two regular-season meetings, where A.D. scored 15 points shooting 6-for-14 (42.9%) from the field and 1-for-3 (33.3%) from beyond the arc with three assists.

Should the Heat elect to use that zone defence we’ve seen so often, Adebayo’s importance is sustained in holding down the middle as the team’s anchor. His defence is the key to the Heat winning this series.

Lakers shooters: Danny Green, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma

One of the keys to breaking Miami’s zone is consistently shooting the 3. That responsibility falls on more than just one player, which is why Green, Caldwell-Pope and Kuzma are all being highlighted.

Take a look at the shooting numbers from these three so far these playoffs.