Hobbled Heat still in fighting mood
Despite injuries, ugly loss, East champs stay focused
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Jimmy Butler had a bandage on his right knee and a wrap on his left ankle. His team’s starting point guard and center are both doubtful to play in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
And his Heat are coming off a one-sided loss to the Lakers.
Given all that, Butler believes a perception exists that this series is already over.
“I beg to differ,” Butler said
Thursday.
Say this for the Heat: They’re down but refuse to believe they’re anywhere near out. Game 2 of the finals is Friday night, with the Heat bracing to be without point guard Goran Dragic because of a torn left plantar fascia and All-Star Bam Adebayo due to a newly diagnosed neck injury on top of his ongoing shoulder issues.
“When it rains, it pours,” said Butler, who’ll play through a sore ankle in Game 2. “All in all, though, we’re still expected to win. We got here for a reason. We realize we belong. ... Obviously, we definitely need those two guys, don’t get me wrong. But I’ve always said, next man up when a man goes down.”
The Lakers won the opener 11698, a score that didn’t exactly show how lopsided things were for much of the game. The Heat started on a 25-12 run; the Lakers scored 75 of the game’s next 105 points — a staggering burst. A 13-point deficit midway through the first quarter became a 32-point lead midway through the third for the Lakers.
That, combined with the Heat’s injury problems, sure seems to indicate that the Lakers have full control of this matchup. Dragic had been the Heat’s leading scorer in the first three playoff rounds. Adebayo is the team’s best rebounder and blossoming into a superstar.
The Lakers have a locked-in LeBron James — whowas one assist shy of extending his record for finals triple-doubles — and Anthony Davis made his finals debut look easy with 34 points. But James is taking nothing for granted, revealing that he was up until 4:30 a.m. Thursday watching film from Game 1.
James said he saw plenty of ways the Lakers can be better.
“We are playing against an exceptional team,” James said. “... Greatcoached. We’ve have to continue to understand that ... they’re going to make adjustments in Game 2, and we need to be ready for that.”