Ailing Heat insist finals against Lakers isn’t over yet
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. » Jimmy Butler had a bandage on his right knee andawrap on his left ankle. His team’s starting point guard and center are both doubtful to play inGame 2 of theNBAFinals. And his Miami Heat are coming off a one-sided loss to the Los Angeles 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, withMiami bracing to bewithout point guard Goran Dragic because of a torn
left plantar fascia and AllStar Bam Adebayo due to a newly diagnosedneck 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 towin. 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 Game 1 116-98, a score that didn’t exactly show how lopsided things were for much of the game. Miami 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 Miami’s injury problems, sure seems to indicate that the Lakers have full control of this matchup. Dragic had been Miami’s leading scorer in the first three playoff rounds. Adebayo is the team’s best rebounder and blossoming into a superstar.
Lakers coach FrankVogel said he’ll plan forDragic and Adebayo to play. But even if they can’t go, Vogel saidMiami’s fourth-quarter lineup fromGame1— agroupthat included Kendrick Nunn and Kelly Olynyk, both of whom would see much bigger
roles if Dragic and Adebayo are out — presented some challenges.
“They have an army of guys that play a great style of play, that’s very, very difficult to guard,” Vogel said. “They work extremely hard on the defensive end and we’ve got to prepare for whoever’s in uniform.”
The Lakers have a locked-in LeBron James and Anthony Davis made his finals debut look easy with34points. But James is taking nothing for granted.
“We are playing against an exceptional basketball team,” James said. “Obviously, great- coached. We’ve have to continue to understand that coming into Game 2 ... they’re going to make adjustments in Game 2 and we need to be ready for that.”
The numbers clearly show that Game 1 winners typically prevail in a series. The Heat know it’s not an absolute rule. So does James. All three of Miami’s NBA titles came after Game 1 losses in the finals. James was part of two of those comebacks, and his third championship in Cleveland was won in the same fashion.
“This is when you feel most alive, when you’re being tested competitively and challenged in new ways, different ways,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “This is a qualityopponent. This is the way the whole playoff system is supposed to be set up. It’s supposed to get tougher and more challenging every single round and may the best team win at the very end.”