NBA Finals slipping away from Miami as depleted Heat fall again to LeBron and Lakers | Opinion
They had to call upon it all and have it all, the Miami Heat did Friday night. Everything available, tangible to magic.
All of the ingenuity that makes Erik Spoelstra such a respected basketball coach. All the power entailed in the mystery of “Heat culture.” The whole idea Miami was built for the bubble. The underdog magic. The notion of the Jimmy Butler-led Heat being kissed by kismet. Whatever mystical vibes the godfather Pat Riley could send along.
Heck, the Heat would have taken a sudden, surprise comeback from Dwyane Wade Friday night. A menacing scowl sent virtually by Alonzo Mourning.
Anything.
The Heat needed all of it to somehow avoid falling down into the desolation of a 2-0 NBA Finals hole to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Had to have it.
Didn’t get it.
A Miami team that got blown out by 18 points in a Game 1 it entered at full strength seemed to have little chance in Friday’s Game 2 — not with star Bam Adebayo sidelined by a neck sprain and starting spark Goran Dragic erased by a left foot injury.
This was Miami, missing two starters — missing 34 percent of its playoff scoring punch.
Against LeBron James and Anthony Davis, et al.
It felt like dire straits for the underdogs.
It was.
It turned into a 124-114 Heat loss to the Lakers that leaves Miami at very long odds now historically, realistically and otherwise to still make this a long series, let alone one that can perhaps still be won.
Don’t get it wrong, the Heat fought hard on a night that might have been a holy mess. Fighting is in this club’s DNA. Part of that “culture.” Depleted as Miami was, I might even call the effort valiant. Still, 0-2 down is 0-2 down.
There is a now-desperate Game 3 on Sunday. It is a Heat “home” game, but, in the Orlando bubble on account of the coronavirus/COVID-19, that will mean no home crowd to lift Miami when it needs it most.
Adebayo and Dragic might both be back. Still the uphill climbs now feels mountainous for the team down.
LeBron in his illustrious career has (surprisingly) never before led an NBA Finals 2-0, including the four in a row he led Miami to, with two championships, in 2011-14.
If a Heat fan is clinging to hope today it’s in the year 2006.
Only four times in NBA history has a team down 2-0 won the NBA Finals, and one of those times was the Heat in ‘06, rallying over Dallas for Miami’s first franchise title.
But here’s a fact, too. The Heat is 0-7 in all of the other playoff series it has trailed 2-0. (The Heat is 14-0 in the playoff series it has led 2-0.)
If it seems to you that Miami at 0-2 is likelier to be swept than to come back to win, you are forgiven. You probably are not crazy. That’s how much work the Heat has ahead.
The Miami Marlins earlier Friday in advancing in the MLB playoffs gave a master’s class in being the big underdog as a feel-good story — the team that surprised all of the odds and the doubters.
The Heat is simply looking like the underdog that is that for a reason. (And the unlucky, injury-racked underdog at that.)
Without Bam’s interior defense Friday, L.A. with its height advantage dominated in the paint. Anthony Davis scored 32 points on crazy 15-for-20 shooting. LeBron scored 33. Together they were 29-of-45 shooting. Miami’s defensive effort has seen better nights.
Jimmy Butler led Miami with 25 points. He had admitted before the game the absence of Adebayo and Dragic made “a huge difference” and said, “We have to play damn-near perfect basketball.”
He also said: “We’re supposed to be here. We belong here.”
On that front, two games into this NBA Finals, there is still a bit of proving to do there for the Miami Heat.
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 11:34 PM.
