L.A. LAKERS 106 – MIAMI HEAT 93
The bubble burst for Miami in game six. Facing elimination they just appeared to run out of steam as the Lakers had everything their own way and are now this season’s NBA Champions. It is their 17th title in franchise history but their first since 2010. At the end of the first half they were up by 28 points – the Heat with 9 turnovers had no players in double figures on 13 of 38 shooting (34.2%) and 5 of 15 from the arc. You can’t win games with numbers like that. The second half wasn’t much different and it was obvious this would be a Lakers win. Miami did have chances but could not capitalize no matter how hard they tried.
LeBron racked up another triple double with 28 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists and Anthony Davis had 19 points and 15 rebounds and without him the Lakers would not have won the series. Davis was very emotional at the end. This was his first championship in his 8 year career. Rajon Rondo with 19 and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with 17 were huge factors in the Lakers win.
For Miami huge props to Jimmy Butler who was the heart and soul of the Heat and the reason they made it to the Finals. His two triple doubles will be entered in the record books and he played an average of 45 minutes a game (180 out of a possible 192) in the last 4 games which took it’s toll in game 6. There are some who have said he deserved several MVP votes. Bam Adebayo had a double double with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
LeBron James was named MVP for the 4th time in his career. He was pretty smug when he received the trophy saying “I deserve some damn respect”. He’s probably still smarting from receiving a meagre 15 votes to Giannis Antetokoumpo’s 85 in the NBA League MVP Voting.
Miami will have some decisions to make for next season. Goran Dragic and Jae Crowder enter free agency and Kelly Olynyk has a $12.2 million player option for next season that he could decline in favour of testing the market. Solomon Hill, Myers Leonard and Derrick Jones are also free agents. But Jimmy Butler is signed until 2022.
There is no firm information about when the new season will start. Latest suggestion was January 2021. Stay tuned.
