The Miami Heat hit back on Sunday, but it may have only served to awaken the Lakers and LeBron James in the NBA Finals.
With just over a minute to play in the fourth quarter, Jimmy Butler headed towards the Heat huddle, a nine-point lead in his pocket and a message for LeBron James in his mouth. “You’re in trouble,” Butler said, moments after glaring in James’s direction after a timeout. “You’re in trouble.”
He—James—and the Lakers absorbed their first loss of the Finals, falling 115-104 in Game 3. If you were James (25-points, ten rebounds, eight assists) you could be somewhat satisfied with your performance. If you were any other L.A. starter, you probably want to burn the tape. Anthony Davis was bad, with 15-points in 33 foul filled minutes. The backcourt combination of Danny Green (two-points) and Kentavius Caldwell-Pope (five) was worse. As a team the Lakers committed 20 turnovers. James coughed up eight of them. If not for a 53-point effort from the bench, the score would have looked a lot worse.
“It wasn't about effort,” Frank Vogel said. “It was just about execution.”
Said Davis, “We didn’t defend at all.”
The Heat were good. The Lakers were bad. L.A. is at full strength. Miami wasn’t, and reinforcements in the form of Bam Adebyo and Goran Dragic could be on the way. It’s a series again.
But are the Lakers really in trouble?
We thought the Lakers were in trouble in the first round, when that feisty Blazers team with its dynamic guards and restored frontcourt took Game 1. Portland was clobbered in the next four straight. An undersized Rockets team looked like a threat when they stunned the Lakers in the second round opener. They lost the next four, too. Like Miami, Denver stalled LeBron and Co. in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. L.A. bounced back by closing the Nuggets out by winning two straight.
The argument against not overreacting to any one Lakers loss has been made this postseason. Davis, a frontrunner for Finals MVP before his Game 3 clunker, is unlikely to play this poorly again. He won’t commit foolish fouls, like barreling over Kendrick Nunn or getting his arm caught swiping at Meyers Leonard.
“I'll be fine,” Davis said. “I just have to be better … the team relies on me bringing the energy to start the game and when you pick up two fouls, guys come in earlier, things like that. So I just have to be better.”
The Lakers could tweak the starting lineup. They have done it already. After losing to Denver, Vogel moved Dwight Howard into the starting lineup. Howard responded with a 12-point, 11-rebound performance. Rajon Rondo was erratic in Game 3 (2-8) but he’s L.A.’s best backcourt playmaker and could easily swap out Green or Caldwell-Pope.
“Those guys have been fine,” Vogel said. “They have been great for us all year. We have to execute as a group better. If we execute as a group better, have more intent to get higher shot quality, then those guys will be fine.”
Indeed. Miami hit back on Sunday, but it may have only served to awaken the Lakers—and James. Butler admitted to barking at James in the final minute—“’Bron said it to me at the end of the first,” Butler said. “I said it to him at the end of the fourth quarter”—and there’s little doubt that James, as he has all postseason, will respond.
“Love it,” James said, when asked about his matchup with Butler. “[He’s] one of the best competitors we have in our game. We love that opportunity. For me personally, I don't know how many more opportunities I'm going to have, so to be able to go against a fierce competitor like that is something I'll look back on when I'm done playing. I'll miss those moments.”
And the loss?
“I’ll be a lot better on Tuesday,” James said.
There’s no need for the Lakers to go back to the lab after this one. The Heat rolled out a few new wrinkles, like turning Kelly Olynyk into a screener. “We just got to talk,” Davis said. “Communication solves every problem.” And the possibility of Adebyo or Dragic returning for Game 4 would give a revived Miami team another boost.
But this is about the Lakers. About Davis not getting into early foul trouble. About someone, anyone in L.A.’s backcourt making three-point shots. About the team not sleep walking through the first quarter, expecting the Heat to just roll over. About not letting a smaller Miami team beat them up on the glass.
The Heat, Butler said, showed that they belonged on this stage.
The Lakers, James said, have to learn from their mistakes.
“When you have an opportunity and you don't make the most of it, then you come back the next time,” James said. “I know how resilient that [Heat] bunch is and how resilient that coaching staff is and their franchise. I don't ever feel like we let our guard down. Also, I don't feel like we're concerned. We're not concerned. We know we can play a lot better. We have another opportunity to take a commanding lead on Tuesday. You relish that opportunity.”