NBA Finals The Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Miami Heat

The 2019-2020 NBA Finals started on September 30, 2020. The NBA Finals kicked off in the NBA Bubble in Orlando, Florida. This is where the NBA were conducting their games due to the global pandemic, Covid-19. NBA players had been in the bubble for months as the playoffs were played inside Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Due to the NBA bubble, there were really no home court advantages for any team while playing in the playoffs, and all teams didn’t have any specific advantage over the other. Both teams had come into this NBA bubble with the pursuit to bring home the Larry O’ Brien Championship trophy, in a best of 7 series, that would give that team the title of the best NBA team for the 2019-2020 season.

In Game 1, starting for the Lakers were LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, and Dwight Howard. For the Miami Heat, their starters were Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Gordon Dragic, Duncan Robinson, and Jae Crowder. Starting off the game, the Miami Heat started off hot and it seemed that the Lakers would not do so well in this game. With approximately 5:30 left in the first quarter, the Miami Heat had led the entire time and had gained their biggest lead of 13 points over the Los Angeles Lakers. However, after the 4:30 mark of the first quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers never looked back. They had taken control over the game and by the end of the first quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers had taken a 3 point lead over the Miami Heat. Since that point of trailing 13, the Lakers had gone on a 70-30 point run against the Miami Heat, inevitably blowing the team out during Game 1 of the NBA Finals. During this game, the Miami Heat ended up going through a loss of one of their leading scorers and point guard, Gordon Dragic due to a torn plantar fascia in his left foot, and one of the best players on their team, Bam Adebayo who is their leading rebounder and most dominant player due to a neck strain. This would cause Dragic to miss the next 4 games, and Adebayo to miss the next 2 games. The score for this game was 116-98 Lakers as Anthony Davis had 34 points and LeBron James had 25 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 assists.

In Game 2, starting for the Lakers were LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, and Dwight Howard. For the Miami Heat, their starters were Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, Myers Leonard, Duncan Robinson, and Jae Crowder. In this game, the Miami Heat started one of their rookie players, Tyler Herro, who was the youngest player to ever start in an NBA Finals at just 20 years old. The Los Angeles Lakers had worn their Black Mamba Jerseys which they have worn every Game 2 of the playoffs due to the late Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant. The Lakers had been undefeated in those jerseys up until this point and their entire goal for this season after the passing of Kobe Bryant had made them more determined to win the championship for him and to bring a trophy back to Los Angeles. This game ended up being a huge blowout as the Los Angeles Lakers asserted their dominance since the tip-off of the game. The Miami Heat had only gained a 2 point lead within the first couple of plays during the first quarter of this game, and after that the Los Angeles Lakers had led all the way up to the buzzer. The final score to this game was 124-114 Lakers with Anthony Davis having 32 points and 14 rebounds while LeBron James had 33 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists.

In Game 3, starting for the Lakers were LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, and Dwight Howard. For the Miami Heat, their starters were Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, Myers Leonard, Duncan Robinson, and Jae Crowder. At the start of this game, the Miami Heat had come out hot and never gave any room for error towards the Los Angeles Lakers. The Miami Heat had led almost the entire game, only allowing the Lakers a lead of up to 4 during the beginning of the game. The Heat had come to assert their dominance this game and make sure that the Lakers didn’t take a 3-0 lead in the 7 game series. The Miami Heat won this game as their leader, Jimmy Butler, had a 40 point triple double with 40 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists. The Miami Heat had taken over the game and won comfortably 115-104 against LA.

In Game 4, starting for the Lakers were LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, and Dwight Howard. For the Miami Heat, their starters were Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, and Jae Crowder. Bam Adebayo had returned this game after not playing for the last 2 due to his neck sprain. This game was much closer as both teams had shown that they could play at a high caliber level against the other. The Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat were close and the lead shifted between them multiple times within the first two and a half quarters. After the 9 minute mark of the third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers took control over the game and led the Heat for the rest of the game, resulting in a 102-96 win for the Los Angeles Lakers. In this game, LeBron James had 28 points and 12 rebounds, Anthony Davis had 22 points and 9 rebounds, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 15 points while shooting 6-12 from the field.

In Game 5, the Los Angeles Lakers had a 3-1 lead against the Miami Heat within the series. If they were to win this game, they would take home the championship. Starting for the Lakers were LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, and Dwight Howard. For the Miami Heat, their starters were Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, and Jae Crowder. The Los Angeles Lakers had decided to wear their Black Mamba jerseys again in honor of Kobe Bryant in this potential closer for the Finals series. They were still 4-0 in these jerseys and were hoping to finish off the Miami Heat in them. With great power to start the game and desperation, the Miami Heat had once again taken control of the game leaving no room for error for the Los Angeles Lakers. The Miami Heat had led for the majority of the game until the midway point of the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter of this game was really close and intense as the Lakers had caught up to the Heat in points. For the Last few minutes of the game, the Lakers and Heat were going back and forth in scoring and leading the game. Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers had decided to try and dominate the game for their team. With 16.8 seconds left of the game, the score was 109-108 in favor of Miami, as the Lakers had possession of the ball out of a timeout. The ball was inbounded and LeBron James went to get it, he then drove into the lane drawing 3-4 defenders on him in the paint and threw a pass to a wide open Danny Green at the top of the three point line for a wide open three that could potentially get the Lakers the victory and close out the series. Danny Green ended up missing the shot but the Lakers had gotten an offensive rebound. Through such pressure, Markieff Morris of the Lakers gained possession and threw the ball out of bounds in an attempt to pass the ball to Anthony Davis. With no timeouts left and time running down, the Lakers were forced to foul the Miami Heat which put the Miami Heat up 111-108. With no timeouts left, the Lakers tried throwing the ball down the court to get a quick three off, but the ball never reached another Laker player’s hand after it was inbounded. The Miami Heat had won the game 111-108. Even though LeBron James had scored 40 points, Jimmy Butler had 35 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists which led his team to the win. He had played for the majority of the game, only resting for 48 seconds.

In Game 6, the Los Angeles Lakers had a 3-2 lead against the Miami Heat and treated this as a must win game so that the series doesn’t get tied 3-3 and forces a Game 7. Starting for the Lakers were LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, and Alex Caruso. For the Miami Heat, their starters were Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, and Jae Crowder. In this game, the Lakers had decided to not start with their traditional center, and instead put in Alex Caruso into his first Finals starting lineup. The Miami Heat had also gotten Gordon Dragic back in this game after missing the last four due to his torn plantar fascia in his left foot. The Lakers made a huge bounce back from their losing performance from the last game and had entered and left the game with only one goal in mind, the win and the championship. The Lakers had led the entire game not allowing the Miami Heat to lead once. The biggest lead of the game for the Lakers was 36 and the dominating performance by this team secured the win with a score of 106-93 in favor of the Lakers. LeBron James had a triple double with 28 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists, Anthony Davis had 19 points and 15 rebounds, Rajon Rondo had played a major role with 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 17 points. The Los Angeles Lakers had won the championship and had successfully brought back a championship to Los Angeles.

After overcoming the Portland Trailblazers 4-1, the Houston Rockets 4-1, the Denver Nuggets 4-1, and the Miami Heat 4-2, the Los Angeles Lakers had their playoff record at 16-5. They had overcome so much adversity and as the buzzer sounded, you could see all the raw emotion in each individual player. During the Finals ceremonies, the Lakers had been presented with their franchise’s 17th championship trophy, which ties the Boston Celtics at #1 for the franchise to have the most championships.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver presented the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award to the one and only LeBron James. This is his 4th championship in three franchises, and his fourth Finals MVP award. He became the only player to ever win Finals MVP in three different franchises, 2 with the Miami Heat, 1 with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and now 1 with the Los Angeles Lakers. This year, LeBron James moved up to 1st in total playoff games played with 260, 3rd in NBA Finals Free throws made, one of two players with 1,500 career NBA Finals points, 2nd in total assists in the NBA Finals, 6th in total blocks in the NBA Finals, 2nd in field goals made in the NBA Finals, 2nd in total playoff assists, 4th in total rebounds in NBA Finals history, and tied at fourth with the total NBA Finals games played.

The Los Angeles Lakers once again brought back the title of NBA Champions after a 10 year drought. Led by LeBron James, the Championship for the Lakers this year was in honor of the late, great Kobe Bryant, and Los Angeles is once again a city of champions.