The classic game five showdown created hope that we might see a competitive game six and possibly be treated to a seventh game as well, but in retrospect it appears that the Miami Heat had nothing left in the tank. The L.A. Lakers proved to be too big, too deep, and too talented, building a 28 point halftime lead, extending the margin to as much as 36 late in the third quarter, and then coasting the rest of the way to a 106-93 win to clinch a 4-2 series victory. The Lakers now own 17 NBA titles, tying the Boston Celtics for the most ever. LeBron James captured his fourth NBA championship and his fourth Finals MVP after leading both teams in scoring (28 points on 13-20 field goal shooting) and assists (10) while grabbing 14 rebounds. Only Michael Jordan has more Finals MVPs (six) than James, who broke a tie with Willis Reed, Magic Johnson, Tim Duncan, and Shaquille O'Neal to move into sole possession of second place on that list. James is the first player to win at least one Finals MVP with three different teams.
Anthony Davis showed no sign of ill effects from the foot injury that hobbled him last game, and his stat line of 19 points, a game-high 15 rebounds, and two blocked shots understates his impact. He started at center after Coach Frank Vogel benched Dwight Howard in favor of Alex Caruso to improve the Lakers' perimeter defense. Vogel's move paid immediate and decisive dividends as Davis demonstrated his mobility and agility by showing on pick and roll plays before sagging into the paint to discourage drives and lob passes. This version of the Lakers' "small" lineup is a bit smaller than the lineup that the Lakers utilized versus Houston earlier in the playoffs, but it is not really small: Davis is 6-10, James is 6-9, Danny Green is 6-6, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is 6-5, and Caruso is 6-5. The Lakers have a big team, and even their biggest players are very mobile. At halftime, the Lakers not only led 64-36, but they had scored almost as many points in the paint (34) as the Heat had scored overall.
Rajon Rondo scored 19 points on 8-11 field goal shooting, doing most of his damage in the paint. He added four rebounds and four assists. The criticisms of the Lakers' depth are puzzling. How many teams have the luxury of bringing off of the bench a player who was the starting point guard for a championship team and who has a credible case for being inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame? The last time the Lakers won the championship, their starting point guard was Derek Fisher, who would not have started at point guard for any of this year's Western Conference playoff teams.
Caldwell-Pope contributed 17 points on 6-13 field goal shooting. The Lakers have two MVP-level players performing at peak efficiency, and that is hard to beat when multiple role players are scoring in the high teens while all five players on the court at any given time are connected on a string defensively. The Lakers were favored in every playoff series and every playoff game for good reason, and it is not like LeBron James had to work miracles for the Lakers to win the title.
Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 25 points and 10 rebounds. He shot 10-15 from the field and passed for five assists while looking healthier, more confident, and more aggressive than he had since injuring his neck in game one of this series. Jimmy Butler, who played so splendidly in the first five games of the series, looked like he needed more time to recover from playing almost every second in game five; he played 45 minutes, but produced just 12 points on 5-10 field goal shooting, plus eight assists and seven rebounds. Butler's pedestrian game six performance is a reminder of just how great and consistent LeBron James is while also highlighting the difference between an All-Star/fringe All-NBA player and a perennial MVP candidate: James first appeared in the NBA Finals 13 years ago, and he is still able to string together one great game after another, while the younger Butler was not quite able to produce six great games in his first NBA Finals.
Jae Crowder (12 points) and Duncan Robinson (10 points) were the only other Heat players to score in double figures. Goran Dragic returned to action for Miami for the first time after tearing the plantar fascia in his left foot in game one of this series, coming off of the bench to score five points on 2-8 field goal shooting in 19 minutes. Bringing back a rusty, limited Dragic was a risky move after the Heat had already won two games in the Finals without him, but Dragic's return ending up not making a difference; the other Heat players (with perhaps Adebayo being the lone exception) were gassed, and Dragic did not perform appreciably better or worse than his teammates did as the Lakers took command.
The plus/minus numbers for this game were misleading for both teams, because the Lakers raced out to a huge lead and then just cruised in the second half. Kelly Olynyk did not see action until the outcome was decided, but he led Miami with a +19 plus/minus number after scoring nine points in 15 minutes. Olynyk's plus/minus was better than the plus/minus of every Laker except Caruso (+20), which is why plus/minus is not meaningful in small sample sizes unless you watch the whole game and can provide some context for the numbers.
The Heat kept the game close for about the first 10 minutes, but the Lakers finished the first quarter on an 11-4 run to lead 28-20 before blowing the game open in the second quarter. The Lakers decimated the Heat's interior defense by relentlessly driving to the hoop, and the Lakers played suffocating defense that turned each Miami possession into a tedious, disorganized mission to generate an open shot.
After the game, James accepted the Finals MVP by asking/begging to receive "respect," but it is odd--if not unseemly--for a player who owns four regular season MVPs and four Finals MVPs to complain about not being respected. James finished second in the 2020 regular season MVP voting this season behind a player who had a historically great season while leading his team to the NBA's best record for the second season in a row. James is widely recognized as one of the greatest players of all-time, and only someone who is biased and/or foolish would deny that he deserves to be mentioned in any such discussion.
Does winning this championship elevate James above every player who ever played the game? It is human nature to be most aware of and most impressed by whatever we have seen most recently, never mind the fact that many of the people watching the NBA today are too young to remember or know much about the accomplishments of Michael Jordan--not to mention the accomplishments of his great predecessors such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Russell. I bring up those three players specifically because of a statistic that ESPN kept emphasizing: James just joined Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, and Jordan as the only players who have won at least four championships and at least four regular season MVPs. What ESPN did not emphasize--although the accompanying graphic showed the numbers--is that James has both fewer titles and fewer MVPs than each of the other three players.
Bill Russell won 11 championships and five regular season MVPs. Also, the Finals MVP was first awarded during his last season, when his Celtics won the championship but the Lakers' Jerry West became the first (and still the only) player from the losing team to receive the Finals MVP. How many Finals MVPs would Russell have won had that award been presented throughout his career?
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won six championships and a record six regular season MVPs. He also won two Finals MVPs.
Michael Jordan won six championships and five regular season MVPs. As noted above, he holds the record with six Finals MVPs.
When trying to use facts and logic to prove a point, it is useful to have an analysis rubric. Lawyers are taught many different rubrics, but one widely used rubric is known as IRAC (Issue/Rule of Law/Analysis/Conclusion). Here, the issue is "Who is the greatest basketball player of all-time?" and ESPN's proposed rule of law is that such a player must win at least four championships and at least four regular season MVPs. If our analysis focuses on applying that rule to that issue, how does one reach the conclusion that the greatest player of all-time is the player from that list who won the fewest championships and the fewest MVPs? If ESPN is proposing that list as designating the "rule of law" for this issue, then James ranks fourth, not first, unless there is some convincing analysis explaining why the championships and regular season MVPs won by the other three players should be worth less than the championships and regular season MVPs won by James. Of course, this hypothetical IRAC exercise is ignoring the not insignificant question of whether ESPN's "rule of law" is even the correct one, because this rule excludes from consideration players such as Magic Johnson, Tim Duncan, and Kobe Bryant, each of whom won more titles than James while also posting a better Finals winning percentage.
ESPN's post-game set is not a law school classroom, nor is it designed to be a forum for calm, logical and in depth discussion; the point of live TV is to get in and get out with quick, provocative hot takes. That is not to discount the value or relevance of anything that is said in such a setting, but if there is a definitive answer to this "issue" (and I am not convinced that there is) it will not be found in such a setting.
Keep in mind that the TV networks and media outlets that cover the NBA have a vested interest in promoting James as the greatest player ever. It does not help their bottom line to have a nuanced conversation about this topic, let alone to say that the greatest player played in the 1990s or--even worse--in the 1960s or 1970s. If you are trying to get people to watch the games and follow the league now then it is not desirable to say that the best player retired decades ago.
James belongs in the greatest player of all-time conversation--and he belonged there before last night. Instead of spending this moment providing a hot take that lifts James above everyone else, or providing a take down that ranks James below a few other players, let's spend this moment by simply saying that LeBron James and the Lakers deserve congratulations and credit for capping off this most unusual and difficult season with an impressive championship run.
That's the article: Lakers Dominate Paint, Rout Heat to Capture NBA Championship
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