NBA FINALS 2020

On the 30th of September of 2020 came the first NBA finals game between the favorite Los Angeles Lakers team starring LeBron James, considerably nominated the best player of the year, and Anthony Davis one of (if not the most) dominant centers of the league, followed by many other players like Rajon Rondo (Guard), Kentavious

Caldwell-Pope (Shooting-guard), Danny Green (Shooter), Dwight Howard (Center), and the growing star Caruso (Guard). Coming up against the underdogs, the Miami Heat, led by Jimmy Butler and the all-star Bam Adebayo together with the help of Goran Dragić and other magic rookies like Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, and Kendrick Nunn to win against the most competitive and dominant teams of the eastern conference like the Boston Celtics in the conference finals and the first seeded Milwaukee Bucks, which had the 2-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. This team proved themselves to be an actual threat to the king’s 4th ring as the series ended in an impressive 6 games after most people predicted it to be a sweep (4-0) by the lakers. As 2 of the Heat’s starting five (Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragić) got injured mid-game and lost a good part of the series.

The first game was an easy win for the Los Angeles team (116-98) as Lebron James stood out with 25 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 assists, with Anthony Davis being the leading scorer with 34 points.

The second game wasn’t looking too good for the east team either as they were attempting to play without their starting center and guard. They were forced to put into the game their young talents like Tyler Herro, who had already done a historical game in the conference finals against the Boston Celtics with an impressive achievement of 37 points in one game (Second most by a player under 21-years old). Even with this great amount of talent, the rookie wasn’t able to change anything heading towards the second game as the Miami Heat found themselves in a 2 game deficit against the dominant Lakers duo that combined to a total of 65 points, 23 rebounds, and 10 assists. The game ended 124-114 for the Lakers.

Going on to game 3 Jimmy Butler decided to put the team on his back and came up big with an impressive 40-point triple-double (40 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds). On the other side, the Lakers’ leading scorer Anthony Davis got in foul trouble early in the game and wasn’t able to play at his best. Miami won 115-104.

Going into game 4, Miami had the momentum after Jimmy Butler's incredible game 3 and the return of their starting center Bam Adebayo. However, the Lakers were the better team in the final minutes as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hit 2 clutch 3-pointers to help the team increase the lead. The Lakers were now up 3-1 after winning game 4 102-96.

Game 5 was unfortunate for the Lakers as LeBron’s 40 points and 13 rebounds were not enough to win the game against Jimmy Butler who used all of his energy after playing for 47:12 minutes (A game has 48 minutes in total). Lakers were losing 109-108 with 9 seconds remaining when LeBron James infiltrated the paint and kicked it out to a wide-open three-pointer from Danny Green, a guy who shoots 40% from beyond the arc in his career, but he, unfortunately, missed the shot and after Markieff Morris (Lakers center) was sable to get the rebound, he accidentally passed it out of bounds while trying to get the ball to Anthony Davis. Miami won, with the score being 110-108.

After game 5, fans were scared that the Heat would win game 6 because they had the momentum from the last game and the return from their starting point guard Goran Dragić. The players, however, had other plans, they started the game playing at 100% as decided to bring Alex Caruso (who is known for his hustle) to the starting lineup, Rajon Rondo stood up by shooting 6/6 in the first half (19 points in total), Kentavious had 17 points, Anthony Davis had 19 points, and LeBron James came to the game with the same intensity as the last game. He did not score 40 points like in game 5 but had 28 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists shooting 65% from the field. Many people thought that this game would be close but got surprised by the Lakers' prolific scoring and a strong defense that led them into finishing the first half with a 28 point lead (64-36). the Heat weren’t able to get the lead at any point of the game and the Lakers' biggest lead was 36 points.

The large hustle coming from the unexpectedly qualified Miami team, ended up unfortunately not being enough for the favorable experienced Lakers team. Some may say that Lebron’s 4th NBA ring was inevitable as he came with a talented experienced squad as Miami, due to other injuries, had to depend their points on the hands of the less experienced but more athletic athletes.

Written By: Henrique Gonçalves and Henrique Ferreira