Game 3 of finals looms, Lakers leading Heat
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. >> For the Los Angeles Lakers, the mission is simple: Get two more wins and become NBA champions.
For the Miami Heat, the mission may be even more simple: Get one win and make this a series.
Game 3 of the NBA Finals is Sunday night, the Lakers holding a 2-0 lead in the title matchup — putting the franchise within reach of a record-tying 17th championship, LeBron James closer to his fourth ring and Anthony Davis perhaps a few days away from his first crown. They know desperation is coming from a banged-up Miami team, since Game 3 is almost certainly a must for the Heat.
“We’re never giving up,” Heat forward Jimmy Butler said. “We’re going to fight and we’re going to ride with this thing until the wheels fall off.
It’s not over. We’re just down 0-2, so we’ve got to do something special. We’re capable of it and I wouldn’t want to be in the trenches with any other guys except for the ones that we have.”
Thing is, Butler isn’t certain which guys will be in those trenches Sunday.
All-Star center Bam Adebayo missed Game 2 with neck and shoulder problems, while starting point guard Goran Dragic also couldn’t play because of a torn left plantar fascia. Adebayo is hopeful that he could be well enough to play Sunday; Dragic wants desperately to be out there as well, but the Heat have concerns about how painful it would be for him.
The Lakers, meanwhile, are making things look easy.
The biggest stat differences in the first two games are the Lakers outscoring the Heat by 27 points from 3-point range (the total difference in scoring between the teams is 28) and a 25-11 edge so far in offensive rebounding.
“We know we can be a lot better and we’re just, myself and AD, we’re not satisfied with just the win,” James said. “We want to be great. We want to be great, as close to 48 minutes as possible.”
The Lakers not named James or Davis are shooting a combined 39% — but the two superstars are more than making up for that, shooting a combined 59%. If that’s what it takes, Davis isn’t complaining.
“We know we have something special with us two and this team, and just trying to capitalize on it,” Davis said.