Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. The NBA Finals is here!
The Lakers really showed the Heat what’s up AGAIN in Game 2.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Douglas P. DeFelice.)
Well, Game 2 was no different than Game 1.
And it doesn’t help that Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo were out for Game 2. The Heat started Tyler Herro, who has been a consistent scorer for them, and Meyers Leonard, who started most of the Heat regular season games, got the nod. The Heat led early after three-pointers from those two new starters, 8-6.
That was the last time they led.
It was funny to see the Lakers put up a ton of threes. And they did go in but where they dominated was in the two-point range. I mean, how the heck do you match up with a LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Anyway, the Lakers didn’t shoot great from three but shot 17 for 20 inside the arc. 85 percent of two-pointers? Ridiculous.
At one point, Anthony Davis was 14 for 15 from the field. His dunks, midrange, even three-pointers couldn’t be stopped. While the Heat did get… hot in the third and scored 39 points, they just couldn’t halt the Lakers, who scored 35. Trading baskets is fine if it’s a close game but the Heat were down by double digits for most of the game.
It just never felt like the Heat were threatening the Lakers after the first few minutes. Now the Lakers are halfway through this series in their quest for their 17th championship.
LeBron ended with 33-9-9. Brow had 32 points and 14 boards. Rajon Rondo came off the pine to score 16 points and dish out 10 assists. Jimmy Butler did he could; he got close to a trip-dub with 25-8-13. And I know some of the hardcore members of #NBATwitter criticized some of the national analysts when they said that Butler needed to do more. I think Butler did well but he felt too quiet even with his numbers and his aggressiveness to go to the line. Again, the Lakers were never in danger of losing this game. Maybe Butler needed to stir up something. I’m not saying punch the Lakers in the face but maybe just get riled up and fire up the whole team.
They COULD get Bam Adebayo back for Game 3 but they probably need more than that. The Miami Heat probably need Jesus.
(VIDEO CREDIT: NBA.)
No. I like Jesus Shuttlesworth but they really need way more than that.
Bullet Passes
It was GREAT to see Del Harris in the virtual crowd. He also received the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award.
It really was Del Harris! How come he’s looked the same in the last 30 years? pic.twitter.com/xZaXYYXkSh
— ᴿᵉʸ⁻ᴿᵉʸ🤞🏾✌🏾 (@TheNoLookPass) October 3, 2020
A silver lining for the Heat was that Kelly Olynyk was able to score 24 points and grab 9 boards. He might get another look at Game 3.
For a team not known for being great at threes, the Lakers shot a Finals record of 47 threes. They made 16 of them.
The Miami Heat have been down, 0-2, in the Finals before. That was in 2006. What happened? They came back and won four straight against Dallas to win their first NBA title in franchise history.
I’m not saying that will happen but…
NBA Finals Scoreboard
Game 2: #1 LAL 124 vs #5 MIA 114 (LAL leads series, 2-0)
Watch This Play
Look at this mid-air pass by Bron to Brow for the slam. Easy.
Mid-air dish from the King.
Big slam from the Brow.(📺: ABC) pic.twitter.com/P4KTtG4xrv
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 3, 2020
Once again, I’m not confident on how Game 3 will go. We’ll see on Sunday.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
TNLP on FaceBook.