Category: NBA Finals

Lakers-Heat, Game 6 NBA Finals: Scouting Report, How To Watch

The Los Angeles Lakers are looking to close out the Miami Heat and win the franchise’s 17th NBA Championship.

LeBron James had one of his greatest individual performances in playoff history in Friday night’s Game 5, but it still wasn’t enough to beat the Miami Heat, led by Jimmy Butler but powered by other crucial contributions on Friday night, that the Lakers supporting cast, outside of Anthony Davis and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, did not offer.

While Danny Green’s shot at the end of the game drew most of the ire of Lakers fans, the Lakers needed a stronger game from other Lakers like Markieff Morris and Kyle Kuzma. Even though LeBron had 40 points in Game 5, he did that while the Heat were aggressive in trying to get the ball out of his hands.

Jimmy Butler, on the other hand, was able to attack in one-on-one situations and had much more success when guarded by Anthony Davis in Game 5 than he did when Davis took the assignment in Game 4. Butler is now 12 for 24 from the field in situations when Davis is the primary defender, a number that the Heat would love to take, especially with the amount Butler has been getting to the line. Both teams appear to be locked into their gameplan and not much will change. The rest, as it did in Game 5, will likely come down to execution.

How To Watch

Time: 4:30 p.m. Pacific/7:30 p.m. Eastern

Channel: ABC/ESPN Radio

Spread via BetMGM: Lakers -5.5

Injuries: Miami’s Goran Dragic (torn plantar fascia) remains doubtful.

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NBA decides not to discipline Anthony Davis after altercation with Crowder

The NBA’s official response regarding Anthony Davis’ shot at Jae Crowder is that there was no further action needed.

While under normal circumstances, Anthony Davis likely would be suspended for a game, the NBA Finals are not at all a normal circumstance and the NBA has decided to go easy on Davis after his backhand slap of Miami’s Jae Crowder. The Los Angeles Lakers currently lead the Miami Heat 3-2 in the Finals.

Clay Ferraro of Miami’s News 10 got an official response from the NBA regarding the altercation between Davis and Crowder. According to the league, they reviewed the film of the game and decided that no further action was needed on their part, meaning no fines or suspension for Davis.

Now, the only problem for Davis is making sure his calf is feeling better going into Sunday’s Game 6. While Davis still had an incredible statistical game, Miami’s Jimmy Butler appeared to have a little bit of an easier time scoring when guarded by Davis. While LeBron had one of the best games of his playoff career in Game 5, the Lakers will need more from Davis and everyone else to closeout a gritty Heat squad.

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LeBron James had one of his greatest Finals performances in Game 5

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James had one of his greatest NBA Finals performances in the Lakers Game 5 loss.

While the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t get the job done in Friday night’s Game 5 loss to the Miami Heat, LeBron James had arguably his best game of the 2020 playoffs and one of his best performances in Finals history. ESPN’s Kevin Pelton went through the numbers after last night’s game and noted that LeBron’s game-score, according to Basketball-Reference, was his best of the entire 2020 playoffs while also ranking as one of the best performances in his Finals career.

LeBron’s game-score of 39.1 was the best of the playoffs and ranked 4th in his best Finals games behind some of his great performances against the Golden State Warriors.

LeBron was excellent last night and Anthony Davis had a great statistical game as well, the Heat just had more in the tank to beat the Lakers in last night’s Game 5 to stay alive in the series. Game 6 of the Finals is set for Sunday night.

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Jimmy Butler, Duncan Robinson do the work to extend NBA Finals to 6

Miami’s Jimmy Butler and Duncan Robinson did enough on Friday night to extend the NBA Finals to a 6th game on Friday night.

The Heat is on and the NBA Finals still does have not a foregone conclusion. Jimmy Butler had another incredible NBA Finals performance and Miami’s sharpshooter Duncan Robinson delivered his best game of the series to help the Heat extend their best-of-seven NBA Finals series to  6th game on Friday night.

Butler had 35 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, and five steals in an epic victory for the Heat against the Lakers, while Robinson had 26 points and five assists. LeBron James had a game-high 40 point, 13 rebounds, seven assists, and three steals in the loss. Anthony Davis has a solid game statistically with 28 points and 12 rebounds but he appeared to be compromised on the defensive end after catching a knee to the calf early in the game.

The Heat didn’t outrebound the Lakers but they did a good job to keep the Lakers advantage on the boards manageable. Miami also took advantage of 15 Lakers turnovers on the night, which lead to 20 Miami points. Game 6 of the NBA Finals is scheduled for Sunday. Miami is the first team to play the Lakers that has won two games in a series throughout the postseason.

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Metta World Peace, Robert Horry, don’t believe LeBron’s era is ‘soft’

Robert Horry believes LeBron James should also be the Finals MVP because of his consistency in the series for the Lakers.

There seems to be yet another new narrative forming to discredit the excellence of LeBron James in advance of winning his 4th championship. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith got the ball rolling earlier this week when he said that LeBron James will never surpass Michael Jordan in his view because James played in what he called “the softest era” in NBA history. Players of today would rightfully challenge that assertion, but some other NBA legends are here to say that isn’t true either.

Lakers legend Metta World Peace went on twitter on Friday morning to say that LeBron’s era is not the softest, reminding many that his era was also LeBron’s era. I don’t think anybody would call World Peace/Ron Artest soft.

Also on Friday, seven-time NBA champion and Spectrum SportsNet L.A. commentator Robert Horry told Dan Patrick that he doesn’t understand why LeBron’s accomplishments are constantly discredited. Horry also told Patrick he belives the 2020 Finals MVP will go to LeBron.

“I have to go with LeBron because of the bad game that AD had. To be the MVP of the Finals, you can’t have a bad game. Plus LeBron got snubbed on the season MVP in my opinion and there’s no way he won’t lose this one. He’s probably going to have a phenomenal game tonight and he’s going to be MVP.”

Goran Dragic remains doubtful for Game 5 of NBA Finals

The Miami Heat’s starting point guard in these playoffs is still unlikely to play in this series.

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There is no doubt that the Miami Heat will once again have their All-Star center Bam Adebayo in the lineup again after he returned to the series in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. But the hopes of Miami’s starting point guard Goran Dragic returning in this series remain significantly doubtful. According to the latest injury report released by the NBA on Friday morning, Dragic is still doubtful to play with a torn plantar fascia in his left foot.

Dragic tried to warm up to play before Game 4 but was ruled out after trying to play. It remains to be seen whether Dragic will again attempt to play going into tonight’s Game 5.

The Heat and Lakers played in a tightly contested Game 4, which ended with the Lakers going up 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. The Lakers have their first opportunity tonight to secure the franchise’s 17th NBA championship, which would tie the Boston Celtics for the most in NBA history.

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Heat-Lakers, NBA Finals Game 5: Scouting Report, How To Watch

LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Los Angeles Lakers look to win the franchise’s 17th NBA Championship on Friday night.

It may be redundant but it is also necessary to address that the Los Angeles Lakers are only one win away from the franchise’s 17th NBA Championship and that LeBron James is a similar distance away from his 4th championship and rendering the “3-6 Mafia” nickname obsolete. But the best thing as someone who loves strategy going into a big game is that there is not very much either side can do differently in Game 5. The differences in success come down to execution rather than scheme during a playoff series that goes beyond 4 games. This is why the upcoming Game 5 that we will see on Friday night should be considered a coin flip more than a coronation.

Anthony Davis is following Jimmy Butler for the rest of this series. Unlike Giannis Antetokounmpo, Davis is calling for the assignment against Butler to slow down the most capable player of the Heat’s offensive attack. With no disrespect to Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro, Butler is their greatest offensive weapon. His combination of power, agility, and basketball IQ was good enough to get good shots against LeBron and the rest of the Lakers but not against Davis.

According to NBA.com’s matchup data, Butler shot 42.5 percent from the field when guarded by Davis. Butler shot 70% in his record-setting Game 3, it seems that whatever the numbers are, guarding him with Davis is the move to go with.

How To Watch

Time: 6 p.m. Pacific / 9 p.m. Eastern

Channel: ABC

Spread via BetMGM: Lakers -7.5

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Lakers decide to wear ‘Black Mamba’ jerseys in Game 5 vs. Heat

The Lakers have said multiple times they don’t want to lose in the Mamba jerseys and decided to wear them in a potential close-out Game 5.

The Los Angeles Lakers are only one win away from winning their 17th championship and they have made it clear they want to win the title in their first chance. The Lakers, according to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, have elected to wear their special ‘Black Mamba’ edition jerseys in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Friday night. The Lakers lead the 2020 NBA Finals best-of-seven 3-1 over the Miami Heat and while they are still scheduled to wear the jerseys in Game 7, if necessary, they have decided Friday is the night they want to wrap up this season with their fourth straight five-game series win.

The Lakers are 4-0 so far in the playoffs with their Black Mamba jerseys and all players on the team have said they feel a sense of pride when wearing them, giving them extra motivation not to lose while wearing the jerseys that are made to honor Kobe Bryant.

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LeBron James texted Lakers that Game 4 was a must-win after his nap

LeBron James had an epiphany after his mid-day nap and realized that Game 4 was a must-win game for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James admittedly isn’t getting a whole lot of sleep these days. He’s been waking up early or burning the midnight oil on social media, sharing how the edge that he’s on is not conducive to rest. But perhaps his most important epiphany, as it often does in the NBA, came from a mid-afternoon nap.

Lakers reserve forward Markieff Morris told NBA TV that in the mid-afternoon, LeBron James sent a text to the team group chat telling them that tonight was a must-win, a story that James later corroborated with the media after a major win to put the Lakers up 3-1 in their NBA Finals best-of-seven series. James told reporters after the game that he wanted to relay the feeling he had to his teammates.

While James committed five turnovers in the first half, he rallied in a major way with his scoring and his decision-making. Not only did the Lakers take a pivotal 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals, but LeBron is also in a position to win Finals MVP after willing the Lakers to a crucial Game 4 win.

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NBA Finals Game 4: Miami’s Bam Adebayo active vs. Lakers

After missing the last two games, Miami’s All-Star center will make his return in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

Bam is back. After leaving Game 1 and missing the last two games, Miami’s All-Star center Bam Adebayo will make his return to the court in Tuesday night’s Game 4 against the Los Angeles Lakers. The news was first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The Lakers currently lead the best-of-seven series 2-1 after the Heat got on the board with an upset victory in Game 3.

Miami’s Meyers Leonard has started in Adebayo’s place in the last two games, while center Kelly Olynyk has come off the bench to play the majority of Adebayo’s minutes. Even with Adebayo back in the lineup, the Heat could use more of what Olynyk has given them. Olynyk averaged 20.5 points, eight rebounds, and shot 56% from the field while shooting 50% from the 3-point line on six attempts per game over the last two games.

Adebayo played only 21 minutes in Game 1 and was 2 for 7 from the field with eight points while dishing no assists, a rarity for such a good-passing big man.

Game 4 is set for 6 p.m. Pacific/9 p.m. Eastern on ABC.

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