Battle of attrition continues on

Which stars will be standing?

The marathon continues. That could make the 2020 NBA Finals as much a case of last man standing as last team standing, as the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers move on to Sunday’s Game 6 in the best-ofseven series.

For now, it’s advantage Lakers, with Los Angeles up 3-2. But after the Heat’s thrilling 111-106 victory Friday in Game 5, a fourth NBA championship for former Heat forward LeBron James no longer is necessarily a given.

Five things to watch for in Sunday’s 7:30 p.m. Game

6 on ABC:

Neither Heat center Bam Adebayo nor Lakers forward Anthony Davis were themselves by the conclusion of Friday’s game. Now the question is what they will look like 44 hours after Game 5’s final buzzer.

Adebayo still is working his way back from the neck strain that kept him out of Games 2 and 3, closing Game 5 with a pedestrian 13 points and four rebounds.

“When you get in the Finals I don’t think anybody’s completely healthy, 100 percent,” Adebayo said, “so I can’t dictate how I play because I’m injured.”

Davis still is dealing with a heel contusion sustained in the Western Conference finals. Nonetheless, he still went for 28 points and 12

Friday night.

“Re-aggravated it,” Davis said. “But I’ll be fine on Sunday.”

Heat forward Jimmy Butler played all but 48 seconds in producing his 35 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists Friday night — his second tripledouble of this championship series.

Butler has played at least 43 minutes in each of the last four games.

Of Butler pausing at one point just before Friday’s finish, slumped over at the foul line,

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “That’s an image of a champion before you’re a champion.”

With Friday’s 40 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, James remains the favorite to be named series Most Valuable Player, an award he has won in securing his previous championships, in 2012 and ’13 with the Heat, and 2016 with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t make one more play offensively or defensively to help LeBron out,” Lakers guard Alex Caruso said after Friday’s game.

James will break Derek Fisher’s record of 259 playoff games Sunday and already is the league’s all-time leader in playoff scoring and second in playoff assists.

The Heat attempted 22 free throws in Game 5, the Lakers 21. The Heat attempted eight in the fourth quarter, the Lakers seven.

So, of course, Lakers coach Frank Vogel tried to set the tone for Game 6 by complaining about the whistles in Game 5, particularly a late foul called against Davis.

“I don’t think they are the aggressor,” Vogel said. “I think we are the aggressor every bit as much.”

If James and Butler remain at the top of their games, and if Adebayo and Davis prove banged up, it again could come down to the supporting casts.

The Heat got a pair of crucial complementary efforts in Game 5, with Duncan Robinson shooting 7 of 13 on 3-pointers and scoring 26 points, and Kendrick Nunn adding 14 off the bench.

“That’s the Duncan Robinson that we need, that we want,” Butler said.