HEAT ARE WARRIORS
LeBron compares Miami to Golden State’s great teams
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Lakers’ Anthony Davis and the Heat’s Jae Crowder ended up on the floor midway through the third quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Finals. As Davis scrambled to get back to his feet, his right elbow swung out toward Crowder’s face. Crowder wasn’t fazed.
The moment epitomized how Friday went: The Lakers, even when they got within a few seconds of winning a championship, couldn’t knock out the Heat. LeBron James was brilliant for the Lakers with 40 points, Jimmy Butler was as brilliant if not more so for the Heat with a 35-point triple-double and Miami survived to send the series to Game 6 on Sunday.
“We ain’t backing down,” Butler said. “We ain’t shying away.”
Everything still favors the Lakers. They lead the series 3-2. James hasn’t been part of losing two potential close-out games in the same series since 2006, his first postseason year. The Heat still don’t have starting point guard Goran Dragic because of a foot injury, a torn left plantar fascia.
Yet they are undeterred. “Everybody counted us out since the beginning of the playoffs,” Heat rookie guard Tyler Herro said. “We don’t really care what people have to say.”
Miami kept finding ways in Game 5 to keep the series — and its season — alive, then caught a break in the final seconds when the Lakers’ Danny Green missed a wide-open three-pointer that could’ve delivered the NBA title and Markieff Morris threw the ball away after the offensive rebound.
The Heat have talked since the NBA Finals started about a need to play almost perfect basketball against Los Angeles. And now James, who has spoken with great respect for his former franchise throughout the series, indicated that the Lakers might be feeling a similar way.
“One thing about this team that we are playing, they make you pay for every mistake,” James said after Game 5. “It’s the same as when I was playing against Golden State all those years. You make a mistake; they make you pay. So we have to understand that.”
James is about to set the record for NBA playoff-game appearances. He already is the leading scorer in playoff history. Has the most wins. The most steals. Most shots. Most free throws taken.
Here’s a record he didn’t want.
For as great as he is, James still needs help. Nobody has had more 40-point NBA Finals games in a loss than he has — the recordsetting fifth entry on that list coming Friday in Miami’s 111-108 victory. In fact, James’ last three 40-point Finals efforts — two against the Warriors in 2017 and 2018 and now the one against Miami in Game 5 — all ended up as losses.
“He steps up in big moments,” Lakers guard Alex Caruso said. “It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t make one more play for him defensively or offensively to help him out because he was giving it his all.”
His all wasn’t enough.
The Lakers have a clear big two in James and Davis, who combined for 68 points. The Lakers had been 14-1 when they each scored 28 or more in the same game, 5-0 when they combined for at least 68 points. The Heat staved off elimination by playing seven players and getting balance. Butler led the way, and five of the other six scored in double figures, led by Duncan Robinson’s 26.
In his four years in Miami, James helped make the Heat better.
He’s doing the same now — with the Heat knowing it’ll take everything to claim this championship.
“Well, we have a goal: We’re fighting for a title,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That’s what it’s going to require, and our guys have an understanding. Through the first two games of this series, we realized, ‘All right, this is a different level. We’re going to have to get to a higher level.’ Our guys are extremely competitive, so this level of play that the Lakers have brought is bringing out something different.”