NBA Finals Game 3 Takeaways: The Heat Avoid 3–0
After 2 demoralizing defeats that saw Miami lose 2 of their most prized players in Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo against a dominant Los Angeles Lakers squad, many said the 2020 NBA Finals would end in a sweep. Well, although Los Angeles is still heavily favored to take the series, the Heat managed to make the rest of the Finals more interesting with an inspiring Game 3 victory.
Let’s quickly breakdown what we learned from Sunday’s exhilarating duel in our Game 3 NBA Finals Takeaways.
Jimmy Butler is Miami Basketball
If I told you someone had 40 points in Game 3 to the tune of a crisp 14/20 shooting night, most people (myself included) would say that player was Anthony Davis without a doubt. The star center has been getting his way all series and looked as though he’d coast to his first Finals MVP, but alas he was relatively quiet with foul issues.
Instead, Heat star Jimmy Butler exploded for his 2nd 40-point game of these playoffs and had a triple-double to add. He fought his way to the free throw line time and time again, shooting 14 free throws en route to one of one of the most heroic Finals performances in recent memory.
While Butler took advantage of generous switches from LA that took LeBron James off him, he simply seemed more aggressive tonight. As evidence from a tough landing he took in the late 3rd quarter after drawing yet another foul, Butler was willing to put his body on the line for his team all night long.
His awe-inspiring performance didn’t just include scoring though, as he amassed 13 assists and miraculously out-assisted LeBron on the highest stage. His play-initiating skills and overall versatility is arguably turning him into a legitimate top 10 player in the NBA right now.
The Heat Are Playing to Their Potential
Although he carried the scoring load down the stretch, the Heat had a solid number of buckets from their role players. Kelly Olynk had a great showing yet again, putting up 17 on good shooting and providing the floor-spacing Miami doesn’t get with Bam Adebayo to mitigate the effect of not having their All-Star center on the floor.
Although Miami’s young guns in Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro shot 10–30 combined and 5–17 from 3-point range, Robinson showed an aggressive mentality as a shooter. He shot 10 3-pointers and it’s a good sign for the Heat going forward as they will need him to be confident in his stroke in these Finals.
Now to address the Miami defense, it’s serviceable. The vaunted zone that led them past the Celtics has proven ineffective against AD and LeBron through the first 2 games, but with Anthony Davis in foul trouble all night, the zone was able to provide the on-ball pressure coach Erik Spoelstra has been aiming for all series. Although they let guys like Markieff Morris burn them from 3 all night, it seems the Heat are deeming those kinds of shots an acceptable loss at this point.
It’ll be interesting to see how Miami’s zone fares with AD back in prominence in Game 4, because tonight they got lucky to have him miss crucial minutes due to foul trouble. Look for Bam Adebayo to try his hardest to get back into this series next game in order to counteract AD’s expected resurgence.
The Lakers Are Playing Content
Before the buzzer hit zero, LeBron James was already on his way to the Lakers’ locker room. He had slung his arm sleeve off in frustration and look visibly angry as he left the court. But why was James so upset?
10 turnovers in the first quarter, 10! The Lakers looked like a completely different squad at the beginning of Game 3. Erred passing and miscommunication to go along with more intense on-ball D from Miami gave the Heat the momentum to start the contest and they clung to that all night.
Finishing with 19 turnovers, the Lakers were able to mitigate the issue, but the dysfunction wasn’t limited to ball security and passing. The Lakers starting wings in Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope shot a combined 1–11 from the field and LeBron’s playmaking seemed to go unappreciated.
Speaking of LeBron, he was not perfect by any means in Game 3. He contributed 8 turnovers to that ugly total of 19 and just didn’t seem in-tune with his teammates tonight. By the end of the contest, James was just diving at the rim in the clutch, not even bothering to get the ball to his shaken shooters.
Going into Game 4, the Lakers obviously need to clean up the turnovers and shoot better, but they need to start playing like they’re the favorites, because they are. They had a champion aura to everything they did in Games 1 and 2, but Sunday night looked as though they didn’t want it as much and Duncan Robinson, or Jimmy Butler, or pretty much any Heat player that made hustle plays down the stretch. If they value every possession even half as much as the Heat did tonight, they should have no issue winning this series.
All in all, Sunday’s matchup saw a gritty team showcase their resilience on the highest stage. Whether they win the series or not, the Miami Heat earned a lot of respect in Game 3 and will look to build on it going forward.
