Saturday, October 17, 2020

Game 6 - Lakers Win 17th Title

 In the middle of the second quarter, the Lakers ran away with the trophy.  Le Bron James won the Finals MVP award. He finished the series with a strong 28 point triple double and played strong defense on Jimmy Butler, who struggled mightily.

LeBron had help. Anthony Davis added 19 points and 15 boards to win his first title. Rajon Rondo went 8 for 11 from the floor to score 19 and win his second championship. The Lakers are very strong when Kentavious Caldwell-Pope shoots a respectable percentage. He did in Game 6 for his 17 points. Danny Green won back-to-back titles by adding 11.

Miami showed grit, as they have all playoffs, and whittled the lead down to 13 by game's end. Only Bam Adebayo played well with 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. Too often in today's NBA, teams make drastic changes after coming up short. Miami should try to keep this roster together as much as possible for next season. They relied heavily on three rookies who should only get better. Goran Dragic, who made it out onto the floor for Game 6, is one player who might be fading. He had an amazing playoffs, one that will be hard for him to replicate next seasons. But Adebayo is making huge strides and looks like a future superstar while Butler is one now. They have good shooting big men, which brings a nice blend to the team.

After every season, everyone wants to anoint the best player on the championship team as an all-time great. Let's wait. But LeBron has personally been the best player on a Finals team in 9 of the last 10 seasons, a remarkable achievement. His a champion four-times over. After so many years in the league, he is still the best player in the game. He posts meaningful triple doubles with ease. He can even shutdown the opponent's best player defensively in a close-out game.

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