Los Angeles Lakers: Magic Numbers for the Lakers to beat the Miami Heat

2. Bam Adebayo

Stop Bam from grabbing more than 8 rebounds per game

Bam Adebayo was arguably the best player in the Eastern Conference Finals, between both teams. He terrorized Celtics center Daniel Theis in all six games in the scoring department and on the glass. During Miami’s fantastic playoff run, Bam has shown that he is among the league’s best big men and that he is extremely valuable to the Heat franchise.

Bam’s best game in the series came in game six, where the Heat shut down any hope Celtics’ fans had for their team making a comeback, where he had 32 points and 14 rebounds on 73%. This closeout game was arguably the best of his career as he was absolutely dominant in the paint, especially in the rebounding department.

The Miami Heat’s all-star center averaged 11 rebounds per game against Boston, keeping several possessions alive by grabbing offensive boards and constantly securing defensive rebounds on the other end. He is a workhorse who is excellent at wearing opposing centers by his constant effort on both sides of the ball, he simply doesn’t give up.

A lot of the Los Angeles Lakers’ success in the NBA Finals is going to ride on how Dwight Howard and Anthony Davis defend Bam. After Howard’s recent success with guarding Nikola Jokic, the team has a lot of faith in his ability to defend moving forward. Luckily for the Lakers, all of Bam’s offensive capabilities come within the paint, so unlike Jokic, Howard and Davis won’t have to guard him outside the arc.

Dwight has proven that he can still rebound at a high rate, as he recently had eight rebounds in the first quarter in his first start during game four. However, this matchup against Bam will be much more difficult, as he will definitely show a lot of effort on the glass. Anthony Davis will need to step it up with rebounding after a disappointing 6.2 rebounds per game in the conference finals.

Davis won’t be able to escape with rebounding numbers like that with Bam on the opposing end. It will take both Davis and Howard to stop Bam from consistently grabbing rebounds throughout the finals. If the Lakers can prevent Bam from averaging over 8 rebounds per game during this series, they will likely beat the Heat in rebounds every game.

If there’s one thing the Lakers have been good at this postseason, it has been stopping big centers on the glass. Nikola Jokic is the postseason’s total leader in rebounds, and the Lakers slowed him down to an average of only 7.4 rebounds per game in the five-game series.

Bam Adebayo is currently second in total rebounds, so the Lakers need to focus on keeping him below eight per game, and the rest should fall into place.