The Los Angeles Lakers could not handle the heat on Friday night.
Welcome to Kevin’s Key. Where we determine the keys to determine victory or defeat for your Los Angeles Lakers!
Previous Kevin’s Keys:
Game 1: Kevin’s Key to Los Angeles Lakers vs Miami Heat
Game 2: Kevin’s Key to Los Angeles Lakers vs Miami Heat
Game 3: Kevin’s Key to Los Angeles Lakers vs Miami Heat
Game 4: Kevin’s Key to Los Angeles Lakers vs Miami Heat
Game 5: Kevin’s Key to Los Angeles Lakers vs Miami Heat
I was wrong. The Miami Heat are no joke. I thought if the Lakers would just try hard, they would win. I was focusing on mindset than an actual strategy.
Great strategy never comes before mindset. Miami’s mindset is impeccable. And their strategy explains why Miami won. Miami is running on fumes. Not a deep team, to begin with, they only played seven guys. Jimmy Butler played 47 minutes.
His performance down the stretch was inspiring! He is the new (big) face of the franchise for Miami. He drank an astronomical amount of his $20 coffee down the stretch, matching LeBron shot for shot in the closing moments. His stat line lived up to the media hype: 35 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists.
Even if Miami loses tonight, Jimmy Butler should be the finals MVP. He has earned it.
LeBron James had nearly a perfect game: 40 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists. Anthony Davis chipped in 28 points and 12 rebounds. The much-coveted third scoring option stepped up – Kentavious Caldwell-Pope again – with 16 points.
The Lakers still lost. The rest of the team scored 24 points combined. If that number had been 28, the Lakers would be celebrating their seventeenth championship.
Alas, they are not. Game 6 is tonight. Small adjustments decided Game 5, not any one play or major lineup changes. In a 3-point game, it all boils down to this simple truth: Miami made the right adjustments; the Lakers did not.
What is key for the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6? Let’s find out!