The NBA Finals

This season of NBA basketball has almost certainly been the strangest, and at times, most upsetting. The biggest change to this season is, unsurprisingly, Covid-19 which has wreaked havoc on standard proceedings to this year with certain teams having to go to Orlando and stay inside a bubble to finish things out. On top of that, this year has seen huge free agent signings and trades, buzzer beaters, posters, rivalries brewing, fights, injuries, legends retiring, and the tragic death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. So, it’s almost fitting then that this year will end, not in arenas with thousands of fans cheering their teams, but in Disneyland, Florida with a backdrop of some fans but mostly ex-players, celebrities, and former US Presidents watching at home in front of a webcam. It’s ironic that one of the best NBA post seasons in recent memory had to come like this, but it makes little difference to the two teams competing, their only focus is on winning. 

This year’s finals would be contested by the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat. The Lakers were massive favourites for this series but Miami had become somewhat of a giant killer this post season, however after game 1 this streak had appeared to be over. LA dominated and won by nearly 20 points as Anthony Davis had a standout game. Game 2 continued in much the same way although the Heat came a bit closer to the Lakers, but LeBron’s 33 points were enough to lead LA to victory of a night they chose to wear black jerseys in tribute to the “Black Mamba” Kobe Bryant. 2 of the Heats biggest stars, Adebayo and Dragic, were out due to injury at this point, but that didn’t stop Jimmy Butler outing in a. 40-point triple-double for game 3 and seeing to it that at the very least Miami wouldn’t be swept. Game 4 was similar to the others in this series, in that Butler led the Heat valiantly but would fall to the quality both offensively and defensively of LeBron, Davis, and the Lakers. An imperious performance by LeBron James in game 5 wasn’t enough to close out this series as Butler would have another impressive game and Danny Green would miss a game winning shot at the very end. LeBron James would round out the finals and secure himself FMVP with a triple double as the Lakers beat the Heat even after the return of their injured players. 

Ultimately, injuries cost the underdog Heat, but even with a fully fit squad it was unlikely that anyone would be able to stop the Lakers in this series as they seemed to have a date with destiny.