Aching Adebayo, Dragic again out
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Bam Adebayo headed out to the court a couple of hours before Game 3 of the NBA Finals, getting some shots up in his typical pregame routine.
That would be the only basketball he played Sunday night.
The Heat remained depleted for Game 3 of the title series against the Los Angeles Lakers, with Adebayo out again with a neck injury and Goran Dragic still sidelined with a torn left plantar fascia. Both got hurt in Game 1 and haven’t played since.
“I can see the anguish literally in the eyes, both of them,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, whose team was facing a 2-0 deficit. “And everybody in the locker room feels it. When you’re in the elite percentile of being a competitor in this league, get to this stage and have unfortunate injuries, I know in their soul they both will do anything to get out there.”
They’ve lobbied to do just that. Dragic’s injury is complex; it’s extremely painful, especially for a guard who relies on his ability to cut sharply and change direction, and he fears he would hurt the team by even trying to play through the issue.
Adebayo has been bothered by a shoulder issue for a couple of weeks, which he played through. Miami hasn’t addressed the severity of the neck issue, but the fact that its best defender is being held out of multiple games of the Finals because of that injury speaks volumes.
“They’ve put their heart and soul into
this ,” S po el st ra said .“We’ re all feeling it. It’s just the most responsible thing to do.”
Game 4 is Tuesday night. Spoelstra said both are improving, but offered no prediction as to either or both would return.
From deep
Coming into these playoffs, the most 3-point attempts the Lakers had ever tried in a post season game was 32— back in 2010 against Phoenix. That is now tied for ninth-most in team history.
The long-range assault around the league these days also includes L.A. The Lakers smashed a franchise record for 3-point tries in an NBA Finals game by trying 38 in Game 1, then smashed it yet again by attempting 47 in Game 2. The 47 3-point attempts were the most in any Lakers game, ever.
“We’re going to continue to encourage our guys to shoot those shots,” Lakers forward Anthony Davis said.
“If you’re open, there should be no hesitation whether you should shoot the 3 or not, no matter if you’re 0 for 10 or 0 for whatever. You want you to keep shooting because we know those shots are going to fall for us.”
Davis said the Heat “want you to shoot the 3,” and he’s apparently right. The 47 3s by the Lakers were the most attempted against Miami in a playoff game — breaking the record of 46 set by Boston when the Heat closed out the Eastern Conference finals.
Dynamic duo
LeBron James scored 33 points and Anthony Davis had 32 in Game 2, marking the14th time that Lakers teammates had at least 32 in the same NBAFinals game.
Elgin Baylor and Jerry West did it eight times. West and Wilt Chamberlain did it once, as did the duos of Magic Johnson and Jamaal Wilkes, KareemAbdul-Jabbar and James Worthy, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, and George Mikan and Vern Mikkelsen.
Davis had 14 rebounds and James had nine on Friday.
So close
LeBron James has 27 career playoff triple-doubles, including a record 10 in NBAFinals games. It could be manymore.
Friday was the 50th time in James’ playoff career that he had at least 10 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in a game. Of those “almosts,” eight have comein the NBAFinals.