Lakers Take Away the Heat’s Space—and Likely Their Finals Hopes

At @ringer/@ringernba: I wrote about space erased, opportunities vaporized, and the Lakers' defense, the silent killer superstar that has brought them to the brink of a title: https://t.co/yqEd9xCv3S

— Dan Devine (@YourManDevine) October 7, 2020

The Heat won Game 3 of the 2020 NBA Finals primarily because Jimmy Butler did an impressive enough impersonation of LeBron James to beat the man himself. On Tuesday, in A Pivotal Game 4™, the Lakers wrenched back control of the series and drew within one win of a championship primarily because they defended Butler like LeBron.

The Lakers absolutely smothered Miami in a 102-96 win that gives them a commanding 3-1 lead and a chance to hoist the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy on Friday night. L.A. held the Heat to 42.7 percent shooting as a team, with just 18 assists—the lowest total of the postseason for the bubble’s most pass-happy team—on 32 made field goals. In Games 2 and 3, the freewheeling five-out attack that Miami had found in the absence of center Bam Adebayo had torched the Lakers to the tune of 121.2 points per 100 possessions, a rate miles above what the very best offenses in the league mustered during the regular season. In Game 4, though, the Heat sputtered, scoring at a 104.4 points-per-100 clip—worse than what the league-worst Warriors managed before the bubble.