The Los Angeles Lakers are unlike any team the Miami Heat have faced

The Los Angeles Lakers take on the Miami Heat in the 2020 NBA Finals.

Many expected LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. Not many expected Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat to represent the Eastern Conference.

The Heat have been the best story of the NBA Playoffs. As a fifth seed, the Heat dismantled the Indiana Pacers, shocked the Milwaukee Bucks in five games and got past the Boston Celtics without needing a Game 7.

All in all, the Miami Heat enter the NBA Finals with a 15-3 NBA Playoffs record, the same record that the Los Angeles Lakers have after three consecutive gentleman sweeps.

The Lakers, though, are unlike any team that the Heat have played thus far. They have played great teams. The Bucks and Celtics represent half of the four-most talented teams in the NBA (the Los Angeles Clippers being the fourth team in that collection).

However, neither team has the experience that the Lakers have. LeBron James is the most experienced player in the NBA and it is not even close. Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, JaVale McGee and Danny Green all have legitimate NBA Finals experience as well.

The Heat have won games by out-willing their opponents, plain and simple. Towards the end of Game 6, Miami pulled away and Boston withered. That has worked thus far and has gotten the gritty Heat in the NBA Finals.

That is not going to work with the Lakers. They have the talent to give Miami problems and they have the experience to match. They will not be out-willed.

Plus, the Los Angeles Lakers have shown us why they are a title-capable team

While the Heat have been great in getting to the NBA Finals, I would argue that they have not shown as much as the Lakers are in terms of being capable to win the NBA Championship. We discuss why in the latest episode of the Lake Show Life Podcast.

The Los Angeles Lakers showed us that they were the best team in the NBA in the first round. While the Clippers took six games to get past Dallas and the Bucks played the Orlando Magic much closer than they should have, the Lakers took care of business aginst the best of the three teams.

They dropped Game 1 of the series in a clunker. They responded by throttling the Portland Trail Blazers in four straight. It was not close.

The second round showed us that the Los Angeles Lakers can adapt. They came up against the small-ball Rockets that were meant to be a huge problem for the team. After dropping Game 1, they made the adjustments, adapted to the matchup and routed the Rockets in four straight.

The Lakers proved that they can win even if it is not their exact style of basketball, something not every team can say.

The Western Conference Finals showed us that the Lakers have the wherewithal to win close games, control close games late in the fourth and even hit clutch shots. The Denver Nuggets really brought it to the Lakers. Most teams would collapse. The Lakers didn’t.

And for that reason, as you will hear in the podcast above, I think the Lakers beat the Heat in five games to become NBA Champions.