Welcome in to the full recap of Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Despite being shorthanded, the Heat did all they can. But, they were overmatched at the end of the day as the Lakers dominate them again 114-124 to take a 2-0 series lead.
We're halfway there. Miami came in absolutely overmatched with Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic out. We expected the Lakers to take advantage of this mismatch. For the most part, they did. They did what needed to be done. Against LeBron and AD when they're roaming in the paint, the Heat's zone defense were sitting ducks. They were just absolutely void of size and length to counter the dynamic duo for the purple and gold.
LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Rajon Rondo carried this team to this win. AD just brutalized the Heat, especially in that 3rd quarter. Nobody on Miami's roster was able to box him out or put a body on him. It didn't matter because the Brow barely missed from the field and was a machine on the offensive boards. He finished with 32 points and 14 rebounds on 15-20 shooting. As I keep saying throughout when he puts up these kinds of numbers: he's a man among boys.
LeBron James lead the team with 33 points. He almost recorded a triple-double with 9 rebounds and 9 assists. Pretty much, if you're the shorthanded Heat playing your typical zone defense, you have AD manhandling your entire roster. Once you put more attention on him, that frees up LeBron to attack. There's no sugarcoating it, the Heat defense have no answer in slowing down LeBron and AD. They are in a no-win situation when they have to account for both, especially missing key guys on the floor.
Rajon Rondo was huge off the bench with 16 points and 10 assists and connected on three 3-pointers. I'll get to the atrocious 3-point shooting shortly, but Rondo was the only one who was consistently knocking them down tonight. The Heat dared him to shoot and they paid the price for that. Against the zone, he picked Miami apart. He picked his spots and scored or found AD or LeBron roaming in the paint. He may not like the "Playoff Rondo" nickname. But time and time throughout this postseason he has came up big.
The only reasons that this game was close than it should've been was the high number of 3-point attempts and the Lakers gifting them free throws. Especially, when they have AD dominating like he did in the 3rd quarter, they let the Heat hang around with foul trouble. They are a great free throw shooting team and had 34 attempts and connected on 31 of those free throws. Not to mention, Heat players who barely played stepped up, especially Kelly Olynyk. I wouldn't know what to say if the Heat came back thanks to a 24-point performance from Olynyk off the bench.
The 3-point shooting was the most frustrating part of the game. The Lakers set a finals record for 3-pointers attempted with 47 shots from behind the arc. But they only connected on 16 of them. This game should've been a 30-point win against this hapless, injury-ridden Miami Heat squad if the Lakers connected on 50% of those attempts! The open shots missed by Danny Green and KCP on the wings pissed me off. It's amazingly bad when Rondo shoots more efficiently than them when he's not even a good 3-point shooter himself. It should never come to that. Overall, the supporting cast outside of Rondo and Dwight Howard who got off to a hot start with 6 points and 2 blocks, was underwhelming compared to Game 1. As I said, the Lakers made this game close than it should've been because they were hideous on the 3-point game. You miss those, you let a good 3-point shooting team and a good free throw shooting team to hang around.
Whether it's a 10-point win or should've been a 30-point win, what's constant is that the Lakers handled their business tonight. They stay perfect with a 4-0 record when donning the Mamba jerseys in this postseason. As for Miami, they may be overmatched, but they have some fight left in them. It's not going to be easy to put away this team. The only difference is that this Heat team is not used to being down 0-2. Throughout these playoffs, they've gone 2-0 and they're confidence soared. The tables have turned. We don't know how long Dragic is out. We don't know how long Bam is out. The Lakers must stay the course and put Miami out of their misery for these next two games. I'll see you guys on Sunday for Game 3.
No comments:
Post a Comment