Game 1
The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat 116–98, led by power forward Anthony Davis, who scored a game-high 34 points. Davis had a monster performance in Game 1 of the 2020 NBA Finals, in which he shot 52.4% from the field, made two of his four 3-pointers and scored all 10 of his free throws.
The Lakers scored15 of their 38 3-point attempts and stretched their lead to as much as 32 points in the third quarter.The Heat went through several difficulties in Game 1 as two of their star players faced serious injuries early in the game. Goran Dragić, Miami Heat’s second-leading scorer and point guard, tore the plantar fascia in his left foot in the second quarter of Game 1 and was ruled out for the rest of the game. Heat All-Star Bam Adebayo played restrictive minutes in Game 1 due to a shoulder and neck strain, which led to their loss.
Lebron James, who is making his 10th trip to the NBA finals, had an efficient game in which he scored 25 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. Frank Vogel, head coach of the Lakers, calls James the"best leader" he has been around and has immense respect for everything the three-time champion does on and off the court.
Box Plus Minus (BPM) is a box score-based metric that estimates a basketball player’s contribution to the team when that player is on the court. Six of the Heat’s seven core players had negative BPM’s, which means the players were actually hindering the team’s performance. The Heat’s 3-point specialist, Duncan Robinson, scored zero points on 0-for-3 shooting from beyond the arc. Overall, Miami struggled to make good offensive plays while the Lakers were dominant defensively and offensively.
Game 2
The Lakers once again crushed the Heat 124–114, in Game 2 of the Finals. The dynamic duo, Lebron James and Anthony Davis, combined to score 65 of the Lakers points and both had outstanding performances. Davis scored 32 points on 15-for-20 shooting, had 14 rebounds and played for a whopping 40 minutes and 33 seconds.James, on the other hand, scored 33 points on 14-for-25 shooting, had nine rebounds and nine assists.He was one assist and rebound shy of another Finals triple-double.
The Heat didn’t have two of their starters, Adebayo and Dragić, for this game due to their Game 1 injuries. Meyers Leonard, the center who hadn’t played any minutes in the Eastern Conference Finals, got to start the game but was highly inefficient as he scored only 7 points in 9 minutes and had a negative BPM.
Although Jimmy Butler had a good game with 25 points, eight rebounds and 13 assists, it wasn’t enough to defeat the Lakers. Lakers’ role players likeRajon Rondo, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma also stepped up to score 16, 11 and 11 points respectively. Rondo also dished out 10 assists to become one of two bench players who have scored 15 or more points and 10 or more assists in the Finals in the last 35 years.
After this game several analysts and fans thought that the Lakers would sweep the Heat and win four games in a row. The Lakers had a dominant first two games and it would take nothing short of a miracle for the Heat to win the next game without Adebayo and Dragić.
Game 3
The Heat surprisingly defeated the Lakers 115–104,led by Jimmy Butler, who scored 40 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists. Butler became the third player in NBA history to score a 40 point triple-double in the NBA Finals alongside Lebron James in 2015 and Jerry West in 1969. Butler carried the team on his back by controlling the Heat offense, shooting 14-for-20 from inside the paint and making 12 of his 14 free throw attempts.
The Heat’s Tyler Herro, Jae Crowder, Duncan Robinson and Kelly Olynyk all had over 10 points in the game.Herro struggled with shooting in the first three quarters, but in the fourth he scored eight clutch points to put the Heat in a winning position.Herro even gave an iconic snarl after sinking one of his shots, which had the fans and the internet (the next day) going crazy.
In the middle of the game James said to Butler “you’re in trouble,” because they were down 0–2 in the series. Toward the end of the game, a timeout was called after Butler scored a clutch bucket. Straight after, Butler said in retaliation “They're in trouble!” repeatedlyto taunt James and the Lakers. It’s moments like these, which gets NBA fans riled up — snarls, trash talk and an underdog win.
Davis got two early foul calls in the first quarter, which led him to play passively for the rest of the game.He played for 33 minutes and scored just 15 points while giving away five turnovers. James scored well, getting 25 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists but was also responsible for eight turnovers. In total, the Lakers had 20 turnovers which is unacceptable in Game 3 of a Finals match.
Butler won the Heat Game 3, and gave them another chance at competing for the championship. Players like Herro and Butler said that the Game 3 win reset the series for the team.
Game 4
The Lakers defeated the Heat 102–96 in a low scoring game. James was the top scorer on the floor with 28 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. James scored 20 of his points in the second half of the match to put the Lakers in a winning position. In the post-game interviewJames said, “This was one of the biggest games of my career. I know just how great of a team we’re playing against.”
Adebayo was back for Game 4 after going through constant physical therapy for his neck and shoulder strain after Game 1. Adebayo scored 15 points in 33 minutes and was not as efficient nor as aggressive as his normal self. Butler, Robinson and Herro each scored over 15 points, but still could not out-score the Lakers team.
In the fourth quarter, Davis hit a clutch 3-pointer to put the Lakers up by nine with 39.5 seconds left on the clock. Davis’ shot was the dagger that made it near impossible for the Heat to come back from such a deficit. He also had a strong game scoring 22 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four blocks.
With this win, the Lakers have taken a 3–1 commanding lead and are one win away from clinching their 17th franchise championship.Only 13 times in playoff history has a team overcome a 3–1 series deficit.The chances are extremely bleak for the Heat to get back in position to win the series. However, Game 5 will be an exciting match between the two hungry teams.
