Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. The NBA Finals is here!
The Lakers made short work of the Miami Heat in Game 6. LeBron and company are the 2020 NBA Champions.
When I started this site in yesteryear, which was actually on December 2, 2008 (that was a long time ago), the season ended with a Lakers championship. The Lakers would be repeat champions the following year. It was a great 2-year start for The No-Look Pass. Then nothing for a while. In fact, nothing for 10 years for the Lakers.
Until October 11, 2020. The Los Angeles Lakers have won the 2020 NBA championship after a marathon of a season. And obviously, it’s not the league’s fault that a pandemic is happening.
Before the game, the Heat thought they were going to get a boost. Goran Dragic became available and was going to come off their bench. Meanwhile, the Lakers made their own adjustments. They started Alex Caruso instead of Dwight Howard so they can go “small ball” on the Heat.
Right away, the Lakers zeroed in on Jimmy Butler. I’ve said repeatedly that Butler had to be spectacular for the Heat to even had a chance. A combination of the defense and Butler not seemingly as spry to start gave the Lakers a boost.
Then Rajon Rondo caught fire. He scored 9 points in about 5 minutes and the Lakers went up by double digits. The return of Dragic wasn’t enough for the Heat; it seemed like he was still trying to find his sea legs underneath him for the first few minutes.
Rondo then added two more buckets to boost the lead to 17. And then the Lakers scored 13 straight points (8 by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) to puff the lead to 30. Unless they were going to bring back NBA Jam T.E. hot spots or the 25-point basket from MTV Rock ‘N Jock for the Heat, a tired Miami team had little chance to come back from this. And really, we just all started counting down to the fourth quarter buzzer as the Lakers franchise secured their 17th NBA championship, tying them with the equally-fabled Boston Celtics for the most in the league’s history.
LeBron James clinched the title AND the MVP Finals trophy with a triple-double (28-14-10). He’s two months shy of age 36 and Bron still averaged 29.8 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 8.5 assists in the 2020 NBA Finals. So his resume now includes four championships, four NBA Finals MVPs, four regular season MVPs, 16-time all-star, 3-time all-star game MVP, 16-time All-NBA (13 on the first team!), 7-time all-defensive team (5 on the first team), Rookie of the Year in 2004, one-time scoring champion, and one-time assists champion. If you say he’s the greatest of all-time, you won’t hear an argument from me.
Anthony Davis was supposed to be next five years ago. But his teams were never great and it seemed nobody would appreciate him until he got the New Orleans Pelicans deep in the postseason. That never happened. Once he got to the Lakers and teamed with LeBron, he was arguably the best defensive player in the league and showed off his touch from all spots on the floor. He also hit a LOT of big shots in the postseason (including the game-winner against Denver in the WCF). He really took it to the next level this season.
Frank Vogel wasn’t even the team’s first choice as coach. And it’s easy to look over your shoulder when one of the assistants is former respected head coach Jason Kidd. But he had the command of the Lakers from the jump with his defensive mindset. He made the right adjustments all season long and people will finally see what some of us knew all along: Frank Vogel is a great coach.
JaVale McGee got his third ring and he’s turned from punchline to important role player for title teams. Dwight Howard finally got the championship ring that he was supposed to get a while back for the Lakers. He’s one of the better redemption stories in sports in the last few years. Danny Green has always done his role well, even though he went through slumps (just like a lot of professional athletes). He and his fiancee didn’t deserve to get those death threats but he deserved this championship as much as anyone on the roster.
We can go on and on. J.R. Smith got his second title. Markieff Morris played a really good Finals. Kyle Kuzma was inconsistent on both ends but he did his best to earn that championship. Alex Caruso went from a G-League dude to laughable meme to a serious winning role player for a championship team. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had an early slump and played way better than anybody really expected. He was huge in the Finals. Quinn Cook (who was hopefully picked up by the bus after the team forgot him) got his second championship ring. Talen Horton-Cook is the first NBA player born in the 2000s to win an NBA title. Heck, DION WAITERS GOT HIS FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP RING.
The Miami Heat had a spectacular run. Nobody expected them to make it this far. And they pushed the Lakers to 6 games. What they did was amazing and everyone that watched them will remember their run. It was the season Jimmy Butler took it to another level. If you say he’s a Top 10 NBA player, yeah, I’d be inclined to agree. And he proved everybody wrong yet again. Their progress into becoming a championship team was fast-tracked. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. They’ll be a contender for years to come.
But this year belongs to the Lakers. 10 years may be a very long time for the spoiled Lakers fans but what matters to them is that the trophy is right where it belongs.
The trophy once again resides in Los Angeles Lakerland.
Bullet Passes
The Lakers led by as many as 36 points and that was in the third quarter.
Bam Adebayo went for 25-10-5 but most of those stats were produced with the game well in hand. Dragic ended with 5 points and 5 boards in under 19 minutes.
Butler had a subpar 12-7-8 game and it was clear he was gassed. Tyler Herro only went for 7 points after scoring double figures in every other playoff game.
Yes, I get that there were many tributes to the late Kobe Bryant. But sometimes, it just became too much where people would force numbers to make a Bryant tribute. It’s nice that it’s for them but really, this championship is about THIS Laker team that put it all together throughout the season. This championship should be a tribute to the players and the coaches. LeBron was incredible. So was Anthony Davis. Kuzma made a tough sacrifice. So did Howard. Green went through hell the last few days. KCP was given a tough time early in the season. Markieff Morris got the brunt of the last few days, too, because of that errant pass in Game 5. And Frank Vogel deserves more respect as a coach. Give them their props.
NBA Finals Scoreboard
Game 6: #1 LAL 106 vs #5 MIA 93 (LAL wins series, 4-2)
Watch This Play
Look at this classic jam from LeBron.
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 11, 2020
While the Lakers won the championship, it’s important to know that this was bigger than basketball. They were able to get messages out about voting, about how black lives matter, and about social injustices. And they will continue to do that as we try to better our nation. Also, there were NO POSITIVE TESTS IN THE NBA BUBBLE. That is amazing and that’s a huge accomplishment for the league. I think a country is in need of those bubble rules and stringent testing…
And I enjoyed covering the NBA AND the WNBA throughout this… year-long season (the season started in October 22 of last year!). I will definitely do this again for the coming season but who knows when either will start? I will also definitely be here for free agency news and probably for some features to come back to TNLP.
As for now, please take care of yourself. I’ll see you when I’ll see you.
(And of course, I’m always on Twitter. Duh.)
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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