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Will Lakers’ Domination of the Heat Lead To An Asterisk Championship?

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With the juggernaut Los Angeles Lakers thrashing the undermanned Miami Heat, the disrespectful chatter by the critics and doubters about the 2020 Bubble Championship being the Asterisk championship has already begun.

There’s no question the 2020 NBA Finals is a gross mismatch as the favored Lakers dominated the underdog Heat in Game 1. To add insult to injury or, more precisely, injury to insult, the Heat also lost their best two players. Losing starting center Bam Adebayo and starting point guard Goran Dragic was enough to bust any balloon of hope Miami fans had their team would be able to bounce back, which Game 2 unfortunately quickly confirmed.

While Adebayo may play in Game 3, Dragic is likely out for the entire series and the Heat face what is for all intents and proposes a Finals elimination game for them since no NBA team has ever come back from an 0–2 deficit. That makes Game 3 a close-out game for LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Lakers, who are not going to take their foot off the throttle or the Heat’s throats knowing they are two games away from winning the championship.

Can the Heat come back and somehow win Game 3 and keep their dim hopes of stopping the Lakers from being extinguished? It’s the NBA where anything is possible but the odds are certainly daunting to say the least. Before Game 1, the Lakers were 5 to 1 favorites to beat the Heat and win the Finals. After winning the first two games and Heat losing players, the Lakers have now become prohibitive 200 to 1 favorites to win the Finals.

To put this in perspective, before tip off for Game 1, Miami at 5 to 1 was already facing the longest odds ever in an NBA Finals series, longer than the Mavs who were 2.8 to 1 underdogs when they upset the Heat back in 2011. Short of LeBron James and Anthony Davis getting injured, there’s frankly no way the Miami Heat are going to beat the Los Angeles Lakers and win the 2020 NBA Finals. It would take a miracle to win even one game.

That’s why Lakers critics and doubters are already declaring the Bubble Finals as the Asterisk Finals, claiming the championship if the Lakers win is not the same as other championships and should have an asterisk next to it. Their argument is the unprecedented conditions of playing in the bubble without fans and home court advantages skewed the results in favor of the lower seeds to give the Lakers an easier path to the championship.

While there’s no question the coronavirus bubble dramatically changed the competitive landscape of the playoffs and took away advantages from the higher seeds, that just makes the Lakers winning even more impressive. Rather than taint the Lakers’ accomplishment with an asterisk, the NBA record books should reward it with a gold or maybe purple and gold star because the Lakers were able to overcome what other top seeds couldn’t.

As the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, and Toronto Raptors soon discovered, winning in the bubble is no cakewalk and the Lakers should be congratulated and praised, not dissed and doubted, for what they’ve done. The Lakers beat the supposedly best 8th seed ever in the play-in champ Blazers, toughest matchup ever in the small ball Rockets, and greatest comeback team ever in the spunky Nuggets just to make it to the Finals.

So excuse me if I’m a little testy at the critics who want to put an asterisk instead of a star next to the 2020 NBA championship the Lakers are going to take home next week. Call it bubble fatigue or Lakers bias or sour grapes. The reality is the Lakers are going to win their 17th NBA championship, more than any other franchise but the Boston Celtics and now own one fourth of all of the NBA championship trophies that have been awarded.

And we have the best two players on the planet are just getting started!

How Frank Vogel Flipped the Script in Finals Game One By Playing Small Ball

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A funny thing happened on the way to the Lakers playing big against a Heat team that lacked the size and physicality to match up with the Lakers front court. Frank Vogel decided it was time for the Lakers to embrace small ball.

Showing once again that he wasn’t afraid to make big changes midstream, With the Lakers trailing 23-10 just five minutes into Game 1, Vogel replaced Dwight Howard with Kyle Kuzma to go small with Anthony Davis at center. For a head coach who had consistently favored playing two bigs for the regular season and every series other than against the small ball Rockets, this was a bold move that changed the direction of the game and series.

While most teams opt to play small to turbo charge their offense or force the opposing team to adjust their defense, Vogel went small for the same reason he makes all of his strategic decisions or personnel moves: defense. What Vogel and the Lakers discovered when forced to go small against the Rockets in the second round was their small lineup with Anthony Davis at the five was actually a quicker, faster, and more athletic defensive team.

That small ball defensive adjustment was exactly what the Lakers needed as they went on an 83–44 run from the 7:05 mark in the first quarter through the end of the third quarter, going from 13 points down to up 26 points. Howard played just 15 minutes, McGee got a DNP, and the Lakers played two thirds of the game with Anthony Davis or Markieff Morris at the five as their defense dominated and shut down the high powered Heat offense.

While Vogel was reluctant to make lineup changes during the regular season except to replace injured players, he’s demonstrated he understands the greater urgency and need to make quicker adjustments in the playoffs. He replaced McGee with Morris to go small against the Rockets, Howard for McGee to matchup against Jokic against the Nuggets, and now Kuzma and Morris for Howard with Davis moving to the five against the Heat.

Vogel’s putting together an impressive resume as a savvy playoff coach whose arsenal of defensive tactics have essentially shut down Damian Lillard, James Harden, Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and the entire Heat roster. He’s stayed true to his core belief defense starts with protecting the rim but understands speed, quickness, and athleticism from going small can also win matchups defensively, especially when you have Anthony Davis.

It’s a shame the NBA only considers the regular season when awarding honors for best job as head coach because Frank Vogel deserved more recognition. Hands down, he should have been the Coach of the Year.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis Are Chasing the Ghosts of Laker Legends!

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There’s more at stake in these NBA Finals than just surviving the bubble, defeating the Miami Heat, and winning the league championship. LeBron James and Anthony Davis are also chasing the Ghosts of Laker Legends.

They’re on a holy quest to honor Kobe Bryant by winning the Lakers’ 17th championship and have their retired jerseys hanging together in the rafters at Staples alongside legendary duos Magic and Kareem and Kobe and Shaq. Winning this championship is just another step in a grand master plan to catapult LeBron James past Michael Jordan as the GOAT and Anthony Davis past Giannis Antetokounmpo as the next Best Player on the Planet.

LeBron knew he needed more than just championships to become the greatest ever. He needed a bigger platform to provide him with the ultimate opportunity to become a hero, which is why he signed with the Lakers. Winning a first championship for his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers was great but resurrecting the Los Angeles Lakers and leveraging their big market advantages to put a crown on his legacy as the king was the key.

The Miami Heat are just the unfortunate team in the way of LeBron’s grand plan, not unlike the New Orleans Pelicans who suffered the misfortune of having the young superstar James and his team at Klutch Sports coveted. And while coronavirus and the bubble threatened to derail the plan, LeBron and Anthony were able to prevail and dodge the bullets that took down the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers and make it to the Finals.

Now they find themselves just three wins away from winning the first of what could be multiple NBA championships together, an achievement that will open up opportunities to make the Lakers even better next season. While the offseason talk will be focused on the return of the Golden State Warriors and the ascent of the Brooklyn Nets, the threat contenders should be worrying about is the Los Angeles Lakers building another dynasty.

While the Lakers still need to take care of business and finish off the Miami Heat, LeBron James, Rich Paul, and Rob Pelinka are already strategizing on short and long term moves to transform the Lakers into an NBA dynasty. Short term goals could include luring a top free agent like Jerami Grant to force a sign-and-trade or a young superstar like Victor Oladipo, who’ll be a free agent next offseason, to force a trade to the Lakers ala Anthony Davis.

Long term goals could include LeBron re-signing at a discounted salary to create the cap space for the Lakers to sign a third superstar like Giannis Antetokounmpo to help win now and take over after LeBron finally retires. Another enticing and realistic option down the road could be the Lakers signing Atlanta Hawks’ dynamic young point guard Trae Young, who just signed a contract for Rich Paul of Klutch Sports to become his agent.

There’s no doubt LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers, and Klutch Sports are working in concert help James in his crusade to pass Michael Jordan as the GOAT and Davis in his mission to win the Best Player in the World title. This championship will be a key step towards executing the grand master plan that started with LeBron James signing with LA two years ago. Lakers fans should get ready to enjoy a fun dizzying ride over the next few years.

The sky is the limit right now for the resurgent Los Angeles Lakers as superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis are following a grand master plan for NBA domination and chasing the Ghosts of Lakers Legends.

5 Things: Lakers win game 1 against the Heat

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That was a lot of fun although I really hate it when guys get injured in the playoffs, leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth. But it is what it is so we’ll have to hope Dragic, Butler and Bam are good to go tomorrow night while also expecting the Lakers to bring their A game. I would say we got a B/B+ game from the squad last night and, with the help of injuries to key players and some under-performing on the Heat’s part, brought the first NBA Finals win in a good long while home.

  1. Lakers have found their way, the way is defense, and they are putting in work to make it happen. There’s not much you can do when a team defense is as locked in as the Lakers are right now. It’s not like we’re doing anything new, we;re just executing the bedrock principles of Frank Vogel’s schemes with excellence, communicating well on the back line and doing a fantastic job of adjusting or switching schemes or coverage’s on the fly. It’s easier to make this look good when superstars buy in and even easier when those guys are AD and LBJ. Danny Green was also excellent on defense last night. This series will be won on this end, as all of our series have been won up to now.
  2. Welcome to the NBA Finals Anthony Davis! His NBA Finals debut in terms of points scored tied for 3rd in Laker Lore (He and Elgin both dropped 34, George Mikan and Shaq are ahead of them). He also blocked 3 shots, had 9 rebounds and 5 assists. AD is a riddle I don’t think Miami has an answer for. They can slot Bam on him but it won’t be enough and it’ll mean you’re playing Kelly Olynyk or another under-sized player is going to have to contain Dwight Howard. Speaking of Dwight, his return trip to the NBA Finals was highlighted by two awesome dishes to AD on drives to the hoop for easy buckets. The Heat basically have to hope for a bad game from Davis, they don’t have a player that can stop him and doubling opens up an evolving passing game.
  3. That other good player we have, what’s his name…oh yeah! LeBron James. The King missed another triple-double by one assist. You could tell he was fishing for it a bit at the end but then quickly shut that down by returning to a more aggressive posture and scoring at will. Miami, like the rest of the NBA, doesn’t have much of an answer for ‘Bron. Iggy is up for it but lacks the legs or conditioning to hang with him all game and after that it’s Crowder who is more of a foul risk and lacks the acumen and savvy AI brings. I expect to see Miami double LeBron and force other guys like AD to make plays, the problem being that they can and will. Also, Frank’s got an easy counter to that in subbing Rondo in for either KCP or Green. Then you have to account for off-ball LBJ and we’ve seen how that fares, thus far.
  4. Laker Bench did enough. Outside of Caruso and Morris the Laker bench didn’t bring a lot of offense. Miami, when healthy, has the better scoring bench with Tyler Herro, Iggy and the oft-overlooked Kendrick Nunn. If Dragic can’t go I actually expect to see Nunn return to the starting line up. The rookie was on the All NBA rookie team, finished second in Rookie of the Year voting (despite the late surge of Zion). Between Nunn and Herro the Heat have some decent options to replace G=Dragic. I would add at this moment that, before you go writing rookies off in the NBA Finals citing a lack of experience or what-have-you that you take a moment and recall one Earvin “Magic” Johnson who corralled an NBA Finals MVP of his own after a serious ankle injury forced Kareem to sit out against Philly while one Pat Riley sat in the broadcast booth that season calling color alongside Laker legend Chick Hearn. Lotta mystical mojo there. There’s a benefit to being young: you don’t know what you don’t know, coach just tells you to go ball and you’re loose. Not saying that’s what’s coming but cautioning against dissing NBA talent from the comfort of one’s chair.
  5. What to expect in game 2. I think we’ll see more of Kelly Olynyk matching up against Dwight and if Bam sits out a game (which I don’t expect but will likely end up being a game time call) we might even see Myers Leonard. While this shouldn’t strike fear into the heart of Laker Nation it does present a slightly different challenge. Kelly-O is a willing three point shooter and under-rated defender. Like everyone on the Heat he plays hard and has no quit in him. Myers and Kelly could bang with Howard and burn fouls on AD, making him work harder than he wants to. I expect Spo to gum up the works of the game. They can’t keep up with us so they need to slow the game down, muck it up, play more like Riles’ Knickerbockers back in the 90’s. Jimmy Butler would have to be killed vampire-style in order not to play, he’s playing. Goran Dragic is a whole other issue. If he’s got a torn plantar I don’t see how he can be effective. That means Miami will either start bigger (maybe have Iggy start) but I think they’ll call on Kendrick and turn him loose while keeping the rest of the playoff rotation that has worked as-is. There aren’t a ton of options. Mainly the Heat need to play more to type, they need to generate more free throws and be more aggressive driving to the rim. It was only one game and the Miami Heat can definitely play better than we saw last night. I still think there’s a series here, even if Dragic can’t go. But they need to play pretty perfect basketball and I don’t see them doing that for 4 of the next 6 games. They can make it competitive, I still don’t see them winning it all.

Three Critical Match Up Questions for the Lakers and Heat in the NBA Finals!

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Whether regular season or the playoffs, the NBA is all about the matchups. Because offense and defense in a playoff series is often more of a team than individual effort, lineup and rotations matchups can determine the winner.

How the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat answer the following three critical questions about the specific lineups and rotations they plan to use in the next four to seven games could determine who wins the NBA Finals:

1. What Do the Heat Do When the Lakers Go Big?

The first key matchup question the Heat are going to have to answer if they hope to upset the Lakers and win the NBA Finals is what do they do when the Lakers go big with Dwight Howard, Anthony Davis, and LeBron James? Miami’s starting front court of Bam Adebayo, Jae Crowder, and Duncan Robinson doesn’t match up well against the Lakers’ super-sized front court, which means the Heat may be forced to change their starting lineup.

The Lakers’ Howard, Davis, and James front court is a nightmare matchup for the Heat because they ideally need Bam Adebayo to defend Anthony Davis but Duncan Robinson or Jae Crowder cannot guard Dwight Howard. To make matters worse, even if Adebayo defends Howard, there’s no way Crowder and Robinson will be able to guard Davis and James, which means Miami is likely going to be forced to change their starting backcourt.

This is the matchup that is likely to doom the Heat because it’s going to force them to replace Duncan Robinson, a player whose elite 3-point shooting their offense depends upon, with either Kelly Olynyk or Andre Iguodala. Miami has two options: bring in Olynyk to defend Howard, allowing Adebayo to guard Davis and Crowder to guard James, or bring in Iguodala to defend James, leaving Adebayo on Howard and Crowder on Davis.

Either option is fraught with peril. Adebayo, Crowder, and Iguodala may have a better chance of limiting Howard, Davis, and James than Olynyk, Adebayo, and Crowder even though Bam wouldn’t be guarding Anthony. The Lakers’ advantage in sheer size, talent, and experience in the front court is what makes them the prohibitive favorites in this series. The Heat’s only options may be get Howard in early foul trouble or to go small.

2. What Do the Lakers Do When the Heat Go Small?

The Heat’s best strategy against the Lakers’ big lineup could be to go small and try to force the Lakers to match up by replacing Dwight Howard with Markieff Morris at power forward and moving Anthony Davis to the five. There’s no question that a front court of Adebayo, Crowder, and Robinson or maybe Iguodala versus Davis, Morris, and James would be a much better matchup for the Heat than having to go against Howard, Davis, and James.

The good news for the Heat is that the Lakers normally play their version of small ball with Anthony Davis playing the five around half the time. The bad news is Frank Vogel could surprise everybody and play big all game long. While JaVale McGee has not played great recently, he did play well in the two wins the Lakers had over the Heat back at the end of 2019 and there’s an argument to be made playing two bigs against the Heat could be smart.

One of the Miami Heat’s weaknesses is their lack of a capable defensive center to backup Bam Adebayo and the Lakers going big for the entire game could scramble all of Erik Spoelstra’s planned defensive strategies and rotations. While Howard will likely start and play 30 minutes for the Lakers, there’s a good chance Vogel will give McGee a chance to redeem himself, keep Howard the out of foul trouble, and test whether he can be effective against the Heat.

While a Lakers’ front court of Davis, Morris, and James may be easier for the Heat to match up against, it also may be the Lakers best lineup at both ends of the court, providing better 3-point shooting and quicker rotations. Regardless of what Vogel decides, the Lakers will still have an advantage in the front court whether they stay big with Howard or McGee at the five or go small with Davis at the five against the Heat’s normal starting lineup.

3. What Do the Lakers Do When the Heat play Zone?

One way the Heat might be able to cover for their mismatch disadvantage in the front court against the Lakers is to deploy a 2–3 zone defense, which has been a key element of their defensive game plans throughout the playoffs. The zone could enable them to keep their starting front court of Adebayo, Crowder, and Robinson on the floor, especially when the Lakers went big with Howard or Mcgee at the five. They used the Zone against LA before.

Deploying the 2–3 zone against the Lakers could be a smart strategy for the Heat to test because capable and consistent 3-point shooting, which is one of Los Angeles’ weaknesses, is a critical criteria to beating zone defenses. Unfortunately, the other way smart teams beat zones is to get the ball to a superstar zone buster like LeBron James or Anthony Davis in the heart of the zone at the free throw line where they can either score or facilitate.

In fact, that’s exactly what the Lakers did to beat the Heat zone in the games the Lakers won in November and December 2019. Posting LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the middle led to a plethora of easy points and assists. Spoelstra will have to come up with new wrinkles for the Heat’s 2–3 zone to confuse the Lakers this time around but playing zone is definitely a way for Miami to avoid having to change their normal lineups and rotations.

Look for the Lakers to also exploit the weaknesses of teams playing zones, namely poor offensive rebounding and transition defense because each defender doesn’t have a specific responsibility for any one offensive player. Frank Vogel and the Lakers’ coaching staff are going to have the Lakers ready to take advantage of the Heat’s 2-3 zone, especially when they go big. Laker centers will be sprinting down court looking for touchdown passes.