Lakers look to close Heat out in Game 5

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The trophy ceremony plans are getting finalized. Boxes are being shipped out of the NBA bubble in advance of the looming shutdown. Hotel rooms, sometime in the next few days, will be filled again by regular people looking for their long-awaited Disney fix.

For Lebron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, the stage is set.

The NBA Finals — and the longest season in league history, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and 4K month shutdown that followed — could end tonight, with James and the Lakers going into Game 5 with a 3-1 series lead over the Miami

Heat. The Heat are simply looking for a way to extend this matchup into a Game 6 that would be played on Sunday, while James is looking for his fourth ring and, he thinks, a whole new level of respect from L.A. fans.

James is 3-0 in finals closeout opportunities, and 3-1 leads in the title series are almost always turned into trophies.