Can Bam Adebayo’s Game 4 return swing the 2020 NBA Finals?

The Miami Heat will get Bam Adebayo back for Game 4 of the 2020 NBA Finals.

By the end of Game 1 of the 2020 NBA Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers might as well have been handed the Larry O’Brien Trophy. They were already the heavy favorite entering the series, but as Anthony Davis ran roughshod all over the Miami Heat‘s frontcourt, and as the injuries began to pile up for Erik Spoelstra’s squad, “Lakers in 4” seemed inevitable before the series opener had even concluded.

Game 2 followed the same script, and with Goran Dragic (left plantar fascia tear) and Bam Adebayo (shoulder, neck) both sidelined, it took an all-time great performance from Jimmy Butler in Game 3 to actually make this a series.

Heading into Game 4, however, the Heat will receive another jolt to follow up Butler’s electric Game 3 performance: Adebayo is going to play.

Can Bam Adebayo’s return swing the Finals in the Heat’s favor?

During this surprising and fun Finals run from Miami, Adebayo (plus-77) and Dragic (plus-77) have led the Heat in total point differential, with Butler in third (plus-76). While the Dragon’s timeline remains unclear, getting Bam back is a massive plus for Miami on both ends of the floor.

While the Heat managed to hold AD in check in Game 3, he had been absolutely unstoppable through the first two games of the series, averaging 33.0 points and 11.5 rebounds per game on .634/600/1.000 shooting splits, largely without Bam on the floor.

Getting the Heat’s best prayer of containing Davis back on the floor is a massive boost to Miami’s defense, which has been stretched thin trying to defend him with shorter wings (Butler, Jae Crowder) or bigs who are too slow to stay in front of him (Meyers Leonard, Kelly Olynyk). Spoelstra threw some different looks at the Brow with Miami’s double-teams in Game 3, but those tweaks won’t baffle a player of AD’s caliber or a coach of Frank Vogel’s intelligence for too long.

Getting Bam back, even if he’s not fully 100 percent, puts less strain on Miami’s defense to constantly trap and recover, and on the offensive end, it will make either Davis or Dwight Howard work harder to stop one of the Heat’s best and most versatile weapons.

Even so, LeBron James and AD will most likely be out for vengeance in Game 4 after letting Game 3 slip away. They let their guard down, and when the Heat made them pay, it served as a wakeup call. The 2020 NBA Finals are a series now, but even though momentum has swung in Miami’s favor with this encouraging news, don’t think for one second the Lakers won’t be up to the task in Tuesday night’s game.