Lakers handle the Heat easily in finals opener
Davis scores 34 to lead Los Angeles to victory as Miami suffers slew of injuries
The Los Angeles Lakers doused the Miami Heat in stunningly easy fashion to open the NBA Finals on Wednesday night.
Miami threw the first punch, going up 13 on the Lakers, but still trailed by three after a quarter because Los Angeles righted the ship and it was a rout from there, with the Lakers excelling from three-point range on the way to a 116-98 victory.
“They are extremely locked in,” head coach Frank Vogel said of the Lakers before the game. It sure looked that way.
In his 50th career NBA Finals game, LeBron James was his usual dominant self with a near triple-double (25 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists), but his running mate Anthony Davis was the real story. The superstar big man toyed with the Heat all evening, keeping the Lakers in range early before going off for 34 points, nine rebounds and five assists in 38 minutes. Only fellow Lakers Shaquille O'Neal and George Mikan had scored more points than Davis in an NBA Finals debut.
“He's obviously elevated his game and showed that he's built for the big moments,” Vogel said when asked about Davis getting his first deep playoff run. “Up to this point, he's been terrific on both ends of the floor, hitting big shots, making big defensive plays and really leading behind the scenes, as well.”
Few teams have been able to slow down Davis this season, and Miami doesn't look like it has any answers, either.
But early in the game, instead of playing in Los Angeles in front of a frenzied crowd and perhaps being overwhelmed by the moment, Miami, inside the bubble in Orlando, Fla., came out locked in and on fire. The Heat shot 9-for-12 to start the game, including three makes without a miss from three-point range to put a mild scare into the Lakers. In his first finals appearance,
Jimmy Butler put his stamp on things with nine quick points and finished with 23 to lead the Heat.
But the Lakers stormed back with 13 straight and Miami never figured out a way to counterpunch. Not after Bam Adebayo's early exit due to two fouls (the game was within a basket when Adebayo left and was never that way again).
Three-point shooting has not been a strength for the Lakers in the bubble, but it was early on, with the club starting 10-for-16. Opponents had been making only 11.8 per cent of threes on 34.5 per cent shooting against Miami in the playoffs, but the Lakers nailed 11 shots in the first 24 minutes and went on a 53-23 run to close the half to become the first team since 1996-97 to lead a finals game by double digits in the first half after earlier trailing by at least 10.
The advantage was tied for the biggest Game 1 halftime lead since Detroit was also up 17 on Los Angeles in 1988. The 26-point edge through three was the fourth largest in an opening finals game.
James had been just 1-8 in the first game of a finals series in his career, but had averaged 29 points per game in those games. He didn't need to approach 30 in this one because he once again had the league's best sidekick in the superb Davis.
To make matters worse for underdog Miami, star forward Butler twisted an ankle in the first half, playoff scoring leader Goran Dragic (20.9 points per game) was held to 15 minutes due to a foot injury and young star centre Adebayo dealt with foul trouble early and a shoulder injury later and played only 21 minutes. Adebayo battled a shoulder issue earlier in the playoffs, but had said it was healed. X-rays were negative on Adebayo's shoulder, while Dragic was seen limping out of the arena.
The Lakers missed 13 straight three-pointers after the torrid start, but it didn't matter.
The teams meet again Friday. The Heat trail in a series for the first time in these playoffs. If they don't get their injured players back, this series won't be a long one.