With the Lakers choosing to wear their special “Black Mamba” jerseys, the stage was set for Los Angeles to close out the NBA Finals Friday night. But despite LeBron James scoring 40 points Miami remains alive, winning by a 111-108 final score with Jimmy Butler leading the way.
Butler’s importance to the Heat, especially with Goran Dragic still sidelined due to a left foot injury, is well-known by now. And that means he doesn’t get much time to rest. Butler sat for a grand total of 48 seconds Friday night, and he finished with a line of 35 points (11-of-19 FGs, 12-of-12 FTs), 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals, one block and one 3-pointer. The triple-double is his second of the series, with the first coming in Miami’s Game 3 victory.
To ask for a similar effort from Butler in Game 6 feels a bit much, but at this point would anyone be willing to bet against him? Butler is the second player in NBA Finals history to post two 30-point triple-doubles in the same series, with James (2015) being the other.
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Erik Spoelstra shortened his rotation to seven players Friday night, with Kelly Olynyk getting a DNP-CD after scoring four points in 12 minutes in Game 4. Andre Iguodala was the only rotation player that failed to score, but he contributed six rebounds, two assists, one steal and one blocked shot in 20 minutes. The other six Heat players that saw action all scored in double figures, with Duncan Robinson knocking down seven 3-pointers (the most ever by an undrafted player in an NBA Finals game) and scoring 26 points (8-of-15 FGs, 3-of-3 FTs) with five rebounds, two assists and one steal in 37 minutes.
Following the game Robinson divulged that he had a meeting with Butler after Game 2, and since then he’s been both more aggressive and more effective in his role. Over the last three games Robinson is averaging 18.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.3 steals, 0.7 blocks and 4.3 3-pointers per while shooting 47.1 percent from the field, 44.8 percent from three and 100.0 percent from the foul line. As big as Butler’s mastery has been in keeping the Heat alive, Robinson’s resurgence has also been key.
Kendrick Nunn (14/4/3 with two 3-pointers), Bam Adebayo (13/4/4/1 block), Tyler Herro (12/1/3 with two 3-pointers) and Jae Crowder (11/3/1 with two 3-pointers) rounded out the scorers for Miami, who will likely go with a similar rotation Sunday night.
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Moving to the Lakers, as noted above LeBron scored 40 points. He’s the third player in league history to score 40 in an NBA Finals game while also shooting better than 70 percent from the field, joining Wilt Chamberlain and Kyrie Irving. James also tallied 13 rebounds, seven assists, three steals and six 3-pointers in his 42 minutes, but he likely wishes that there was one more helper on that tally. Surrounded by Heat defenders James kicked the ball out to an open Danny Green in the final seconds, but Green’s 3-point attempt that would have won the title fell short.
The big concern for the Lakers heading into Game 6 has to be the health of Anthony Davis, who re-aggravated a right heel contusion during the first quarter. He was able to play 42 minutes, finishing with 28 points (9-of-15 FGs, 8-of-8 FTs), 12 rebounds, three assists, three steals, three blocked shots and two 3-pointers, but after the game Frank Vogel said that the star power forward was struggling to move around “a bit.” That definitely qualifies as something to keep tabs on Saturday.
Another concern for Los Angeles has to be the production of the “supporting cast.” Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had a good night, chipping in with 16 points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal and three 3-pointers in 31 minutes, but he was the only other Laker to score in double figures. Kyle Kuzma (seven points) shot 3-of-10 from the field, while the aforementioned Green scored seven points on 3-of-8 shooting with two 3-pointers.
Add in Dwight Howard not having much of an impact in his 15 minutes and guards Rajon Rondo and Alex Caruso combining to shoot 2-of-10 from the field, and it isn’t that hard to figure out why the Lakers will have to play at least one more game. Los Angeles has the edge depth-wise, especially if Dragic remains out, but it doesn’t mean much with the reserves’ lack of production. If the supporting cast can step forward on Sunday, the Lakers’ chances of winning the franchise’s 17th title improve significantly.
