Heat finishes two wins short of NBA championship. Takeaways from the season-ending loss
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 106-93 season-ending loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday in Game 6 of the NBA Finals at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex. The Lakers won the best-of-7 series 4-2 to win their 17th NBA championship and first since 2010:
With double teams, traps and pick-and-roll blitzes, the Lakers’ defense found a way to slow Jimmy Butler on Sunday. And the Heat’s offense never recovered.
Butler averaged 29 points on 55.8 percent shooting, 8.6 rebounds and 10.2 assists in the first five games of the Finals series. But in Game 6, Butler was limited to 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, seven rebounds and eight assists in 45 minutes.
With Los Angeles finding a way to keep Butler in check, the Heat’s offense struggled to function against the Lakers’ switching, length and Anthony Davis’ interior presence for most of the game. Through the first three quarters, Miami scored just 58 points while shooting 36.2 percent from the field and 6 of 21 on threes to enter the final period in a 29-point hole.
The Heat’s offense got going in the fourth quarter, scoring 35 points on 66.7 percent shooting from the field. But it was too late.
In the Game 6 loss, Miami scored 93 points while shooting 44.3 percent shooting from the field and 10 of 28 from three-point range.
The Heat, which entered Game 6 shooting 88.2 percent on free throws in the Finals, shot 13 of 22 from the foul line Sunday.
“We didn’t get the final result that we wanted,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who was emotional to start his postgame press conference and had to wipe away tears. “But even what I mentioned to the guys, these are going to be lifetime memories that we have together. ... We thought we were going to Game 7 for sure.”
Miami was outscored 52-44 in the paint and 16-8 in transition Sunday. The Heat shot just 12 of 21 (57.1 percent) from inside the restricted area.
The Heat’s inefficient Game 6 offensive performance came after a stretch of very efficient play. Miami scored 116.3 points per 100 possessions from Games 2 through 5 of the Finals, which would have been the league’s top offensive rating in the regular season.
The Heat scored 100 points per 100 possessions in Game 6, which would have been the NBA’s worst offensive rating in the regular season.
Despite the way the Finals ended, it was still a historically special series for Butler.
With triple-doubles in Games 3 and 5 (the Heat’s two wins in the series), Butler became just the sixth player in NBA history to generate multiple triple-double in a single Finals series. Also on that list is: Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Draymond Green, Magic Johnson and LeBron James.
Butler averaged 26.2 points while shooting 55.2 percent from the field, 8.3 rebounds and 9.8 assists in 43 minutes in the Finals.
According to Elias Sports, Butler became just the second player in NBA history to lead his team outright in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks in a Finals series. The other player is James, who did it in the 2016 Finals against the Golden State Warriors.
“I didn’t win, so none of the stats matter,” Butler said. “We don’t play for stats here. We don’t play for anything else except for the win. I didn’t do that. I didn’t do my job.
“I’ll be better, along with everybody else. I’ll be better coming back. You sulk on this because of what could have been, but it didn’t happen. We didn’t win, and that’s what you leave this at.”
While the Heat’s offense struggled, the Lakers’ offense thrived behind a relentless attacking approach led by their superstar duo of Davis and James.
Los Angeles scored 106 points while shooting 48.3 percent shooting from the field. The Lakers dominated around the basket, scoring 52 paint points on 26-of-43 shooting.
James (28 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists) and Davis (19 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and two blocks) combined for 47 points, 29 rebounds and 13 assists in Game 6.
But there were also important contributions from others. Lakers starting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finished with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, and reserve guard Rajon Rondo finished with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
Los Angeles was especially dominant in the first half, scoring 64 points on 52.4 percent shooting while committing just six turnovers. The Lakers also scored 34 paint points on 17-of-24 shooting during the first two quarters.
That efficient play put the Heat in a 64-36 hole at halftime. That 28-point advantage for the Lakers is the second-largest halftime lead in Finals history.
All-Star center Bam Adebayo returned to play in the final three games of the Finals, and was one of the few Heat players who played well Sunday. But he clearly wasn’t 100 percent after straining his neck in Game 1 of the series.
Adebayo, who missed Games 2 and 3 of the Finals, admitted he was limited by the neck injury. But he still managed to finish the Heat’s Game 6 loss with 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks in 42 minutes.
While those numbers are impressive, Adebayo’s limitations were made obvious by his struggles around the basket after the injury.
He shot 8 of 13 in the paint on Sunday, and he was 9 of 16 from inside the restricted area in Games 4 and 5 of the series.
It’s impossible to know how the Finals would have been different if Adebayo was healthy for the entire series. Adebayo was magnificent in the Eastern Conference finals, averaging 21.8 points on 60.8 percent shooting, 11 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.7 steals and one block in the six-game series against the Celtics.
In the NBA Finals, Adebayo averaged 15.3 points on 53.5 percent shooting, 6.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.3 steals and 0.8 blocks in four games.
“The guys that competed and played in this series, we had several guys that were not even close to being 100 percent,” Spoelstra said. “Probably shouldn’t have been playing, but that’s how this group was. They wanted to do it for each other. And I just, I’m really bummed that we couldn’t find a way to get over the hump and finish the season with a win.”
The Heat’s other injured starter, Goran Dragic, returned to play in Game 6 despite a torn plantar fascia in his left foot.
Dragic, who was listed as doubtful for Sunday’s contest, was inactive for the previous four games after injuring his foot in Game 1 of the championship series.
But Dragic returned to play in Game 6, finishing with five points on 2-of-8 shooting, five rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes off the bench. He entered for his first minutes since the opening game of the Finals with 1:09 remaining in the first quarter Sunday.
“It has been hell for me the last 10 days, but I just wanted to be out there to help my team as much as possible,” Dragic said.
It marked Dragic’s first game as a reserve this postseason, as the Heat started Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Butler, Jae Crowder and Adebayo for the third consecutive game.
Spoelstra said of Dragic before Game 6: “He has still been incredibly involved. You just have to notice on the bench what kind of leader he is. He wants to be out there with his heart and soul, but his body will tell him whether he can do it or not. Either way, he’s going to make an impact.”
Less than a week ago, Dragic warmed up before Game 4 on Tuesday in an attempt to play despite considerable discomfort from the injury. Pregame video showed Dragic had trouble moving laterally when trying to defend Heat assistant coach Chris Quinn. Dragic then walked slowly to the bench after coming to the realization it would not be possible to play in Game 4.
“I’m dealing with a lot of pain, so that’s the main concern,” Dragic said Monday. “I don’t want to be a liability there on the floor for my team. I want to be the best that I can be. It’s just, it is what it is.
“They told me that it can change day-to-day. It’s just a matter of comfort, and if I can push off my leg. I do have to admit, it’s better than it was. The injury happened four days ago. We’ll just see how it’s going to react in the near future, and hopefully I will be back.”
Dragic’s only action in the Finals before Sunday came in Game 1, when he recorded six points and three assists in 15 first-half minutes.
The left foot bothered Dragic for a few weeks, but it became much worse in Game 1 of the Finals when he fully tore the plantar fascia.
Dragic, who will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, was one of the Heat’s most reliable and efficient offensive options this postseason. He entered the Finals averaging a team-high 20.9 points on 45.2 percent shooting, to go with 4.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists during the playoff run.
Dragic said his foot injury will not require surgery, adding “just rest and it’s going to get better on [its] own.”
While the fifth-seeded Heat couldn’t become one of the few teams to rally from a 3-1 series deficit, it overcame long odds throughout the playoffs on its way to the Finals. And it was still an incredibly productive season for Miami.
The Heat became the first team seeded fifth or lower to play in the NBA Finals since 1999, when the eighth-seeded New York Knicks represented the East in the championship series during a lockout-shortened season. Those Knicks lost that Finals series 4-1 to the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs.
In addition, the Heat’s .603 win percentage in the regular season is the fourth-worst win percentage by a team to reach the Finals since the playoffs expanded to its present 16-team format in 1984, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Miami closed the regular season with a 44-29 record.
Miami entered the season with the seventh-best odds to win the East at 20-to-1 behind the Milwaukee Bucks (8-to-5), Philadelphia 76ers (2-to-1), Boston Celtics (7-to-1), Brooklyn Nets (10-to-1), Toronto Raptors (10-to-1) and Indiana Pacers (16-to-1), according to BetOnline. The Heat was also tied with the 15th-best odds to win the NBA championship at 66-to-1 then.
“It has been great, just because we proved people wrong throughout the season,” Adebayo said. “Nobody thought we would finish here. Our guys had a great season. We’re brothers. We’ll fight until the end. We fell short.”
While the Heat wasn’t among the teams widely projected to reach the NBA Finals, the Lakers were and finished with the Western Conference’s top record at 52-19.
Even after wasting his first closeout opportunity of the Finals in Game 5, James has now won 17 of the past 19 closeout games he has played in dating back to the 2015 playoffs. James, who won two NBA championships with the Heat in 2012 and 2013, has now won four titles with three different organizations.
In the end, the Heat’s 2019-20 season was still a huge success. After missing the playoffs in three of the previous five seasons, Miami went on an improbable run to advance to the Finals for the sixth time in franchise history with a roster led by the All-Star duo of Adebayo and Butler.
After entering the bubble three months ago on July 8, the Heat is scheduled to return to Miami on Monday.
“These memories that we’ll have, that transcends even the game,” Spoelstra said. “As disappointing as this loss was, those moments and memories in between and this whole experience will be something that we can all take with us for the rest of our careers and the rest of our lives.”
This story was originally published October 11, 2020 at 11:48 PM.
