Anthony Davis scored 34 points and the Los Angeles Lakers easily defeated the Miami Heat 118–116 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
The Heat went on a 13–0 run and led 23–10 midway through the first quarter. It was all purple and gold from that point on. The Lakers outscored the Heat 55–25 to close out the first half and started the second half on an 18–3 run.
Davis was the catalyst for much of the Lakers’ offense in his NBA Finals debut. The big man shot 11 for 21 from the field, dished out five assists and went 10 for 10 from the free-throw line.
“[Davis is] just a great player. He’s focused, locked in and can really hurt you in a variety of ways offensively,” Lakers coach Frank Vogelsaid in a press conference after the game. “The bigger the moment, he’s raising his play.”
In the first game of his 10th career NBA Finals appearance, Lebron James had 25 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green and Alex Caruso each scored in double figures with 13, 11 and 10 points respectively.
Caldwell-Pope may have had the highlight of the night as he soared above the rim to block a Tyler Herro fast break dunk attempt in the fourth quarter, though theslow motion replay showed that Caldwell-Pope whacked Herro’s head as well as the ball.
The Lakers dominated in just about every aspect of the game. They led by as many as 32 points, outrebounded the Heat 54–36, shot better from beyond the arc and made 14 more free throws.
The Heat had two key players leave the game due to injury. Point guard Goran Dragic, who has averaged 19.9 points per game this postseason, exited the game in the second quarter. Dragicreportedly tore the plantar fascia in his left foot, putting his status for the remainder of the series in doubt. Center Bam Adebayo, who starred in the Heat’s Game 6 Eastern Conference Finals victory over the Boston Celtics, left the game in the third quarter after experiencing pain in his left shoulder, which has bothered him throughout the playoffs.
Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 23 points, Herro had 14 points and Jae Crowder chipped in 12 points. With the game well out of reach, Kendrick Nunn came off the bench and scored 16 of his 18 points during the fourth quarter.
“The Lakers set the tenor, the tone, the force and the physicality for the majority of the game,” Heat coach Eric Spoelstrasaid in a postgame conference after the game. “We’re much better than we showed tonight, much credit to the Lakers, and we’ll get to work for the next one.”
The NBA Finals marks the conclusion of an unprecedented NBA postseason, played for the first time without fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Players and coaches on the Lakers and Heat have been living in the NBA’s playoff bubble in Orlando since early July.
Game 2 will be played on Friday night at 9 p.m. EST.
