The Los Angeles Lakers have taken a 1-0 lead to kick off the 2020 NBA Finals, beating the Miami Heat 116-98. The game somehow does not reflect how much the Lakers were pummeling the Heat at one point, as the Lakers held a lead as high as 32 after the Heat went up by 13 early in the 1st quarter.
Here’s our recap of everything that happened.
Miami Heat suffer a few injuries
The biggest understatement of the year would be that the Miami Heat would have loved Game 1 to go differently. Sure, they lost one game to the Lakers, but in the process, they sustained many injuries to the most key players on their team.
Right before halftime, Jimmy Butler turned his ankle on a drive and was limping severely afterward. He came back out to the court after the ensuing timeout and did finish the game. Who knows how it’ll affect him moving forward though.
The two most drastic injuries were the ones for Goran Dragic and the young star Bam Adebayo. Dragic never came back to the court after halftime, receiving a “doubtful” return attributed to him due to a foot injury that happened in the first half. It was a weird looking injury, as it didn’t seem like much happened to him. He looked right down at his foot after it happened though, indicating something bad happened. Towards the end of the game, Ethan Skolnick of 5 Reasons Sports indicated that the Dragic injury may be the most severe out of these three.
Can confirm @GregSylvander report that Goran Dragic injury is not promising.
Likely plantar fascia issue. @5ReasonsSports
— Ethan J. Skolnick of @5ReasonsSports (@EthanJSkolnick) October 1, 2020
Bam Adebayo went to the locker room during the 3rd quarter, with it being uncertain what was bothering him. He looked to be in a lot of pain, and it was reported by Rachel Nichols and ESPN at the beginning of the 4th quarter that he still hadn’t left the locker room. Before the end of the game it was finally announced as a shoulder strain.
It’s a “Shoulder strain” for Bam, via @Rachel__Nichols. He’s out for the night.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) October 1, 2020
Let’s hope that all three players are good to go for Game 2. It would be much less fun to have even one of them miss time.
The Lakers are the best three-point shooting team of all-time
The nets were scorched by the end of the game, as the Lakers had their best three-point shooting night since some time before we even knew what COVID-19 was. They ended the night with 15 total made threes with a 38.9% clip. Danny Green made three of his eight attempts, while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Markieff Morris both made a couple. The three-point numbers will always look good, however, when LeBron James and Anthony Davis are shooting efficiently from deep. They did just that, with both players making two of their four attempts.
This type of shooting performance probably won’t last, but it was nice to get it Game 1 so that the Lakers could coast to an easy victory.
Anthony Davis is good
AD had 34 points (11-of-21 on FGs) with nine rebounds, five assists, and three blocks.
I really don’t know what else to say about AD. He is more than what we thought he could be and he is MUCH MORE than what his haters thought he could be in the playoffs. Let’s just hope Jeanie Buss already has that long-term, max contract ready for him to sign in a couple of months.
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Game 2 will be on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. PST. The Lakers will look to take a 2-0 series lead, a lead that LeBron James has never lost a series on.
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