2020 NBA Bubble Ball Finals: Lakers vs Heat - Who You Got?

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Jimmy Butler since Game 1:

30.5 points
11.5 assists
10.3 rebounds

40-73 FG, 54.8%
41-45 FT, 91.1% pic.twitter.com/fk6TO7t1XM

— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) October 10, 2020

yeah he’s one assist short of three straight finals triple doubles, completely nuts

also bron was wide open on the opposite wing lmao

lol how was every laker open

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ej8EMcCU4AEjejW?format=jpg&name=900x900

well, three out of five were.

a small pond between lebron and any other player but that morris court vision gene is alive and well

even davis had his man sealed

lakers were down the whole game lol

Anthony Davis: “We have to win one, they have to win two. We have to keep that in mind. But this is a tough one because we had this one in the bag.”

— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) October 10, 2020

insane lebron has lost two finals games directly bcuz of completely boneheaded plays by jr smith and markieff morris

its a good plot detail i support it

bron's weird teammate curse outside of the heatles years is a very amusing component to his career and myth

next question is how hurt brow is... if he’s only at 50% or something the rosters start to look far more even, maybe even tilted in miami’s favor

Markieff Morris: 0 points in 23 minutes, three turnovers, four fouls, also made the biggest mistake of the game

— Ricky O'Donnell (@SBN_Ricky) October 10, 2020

he *was* playing unreasonably well, but...

the thing about the lakers is you can play morris who was -2 or you can play kuzma who was -17.....kuz had to have been playing some of those minutes with no lebron or AD in the 1st half when AD hurt his foot but yeah, one of those guys needs to play and the results have not been strong.

honestly morris has been about as bad guarding jimmy as kuzma has, i would roll w/ kuzma's offense, which has seemed pretty good to me this series

hard to imagine a better advertisement for the concept of culture and fit in team sports than jimmy and the heat. he hasn't changed a bit, he just found ppl who can tolerate him

Duncan Robinson said Jimmy Butler has a meeting with him in his room after game 2. “He’s hard on me but that’s because he expects a lot” pic.twitter.com/eHnlfWNYHD

— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) October 10, 2020

Watching both Morris bros on LA title contenders want nothing to do with the ball in crucial moments has been fun to see. Whole career built on being tough hard nose players but are everything but.

The two heat wins thus far have made up for a lot and I’m happy with the finals now. Jimmy is a hero.

next question is how hurt brow is... if he’s only at 50% or something the rosters start to look far more even, maybe even tilted in miami’s favor

looked like he could barely run in the last stretch of the game

yeah. i wonder how much they'll hedge their bets if the heat get out 10 or 12 points early in the 4th if AD is a little gimpy.

bron's weird teammate curse outside of the heatles years is a very amusing component to his career and myth

― Clay, Saturday, October 10, 2020 12:34 AM (twelve hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

it’s not a curse! he’s handpicked all his teams since like 2012 at least

hard to imagine a better advertisement for the concept of culture and fit in team sports than jimmy and the heat. he hasn't changed a bit, he just found ppl who can tolerate him

Duncan Robinson said Jimmy Butler has a meeting with him in his room after game 2. “He’s hard on me but that’s because he expects a lot” pic.twitter.com/eHnlfWNYHD
— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) October 10, 2020

― J0rdan S., Saturday, October 10, 2020 1:39 AM (eleven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

helps to be winning. we’ll see how well he’s tolerated next year when (presumably) the heat aren’t in the finals

yeah they will probably turn on him

it’s not a curse! he’s handpicked all his teams since like 2012 at least

― k3vin k., Saturday, October 10, 2020 1:26 PM (fifty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the ultimate curse is the one we cast on ourselves, something to think about.....

kendrick nunn’s not shy, is he?

this game was bananas.

I LOVE BASKETBALL

is there a chance dragic comes back or nah
yea this past game was a good watch

dragic's chances for playing are slim or none

herro, bam and iggy - or some combination thereof - have to get more points if the heat are gonna do this imo

bam got double digits in points actually - i would not have figured that

the formula for the heat is davis being hobbled, the lakers role players crapping the bed, and the heat getting good games from their role players. it’s not inconceivable but still requires jimmy going toe to toe with lebron again bcuz you know bron is coming with another 35-12-8 game

Totally nuts. According to Game Score, in the past week, Jimmy Butler has turned in two of the three most productive individual Finals performances in the last 35 years. https://t.co/w0X50Efqc8

— Dan Devine (@YourManDevine) October 10, 2020

helps to be winning. we’ll see how well he’s tolerated next year when (presumably) the heat aren’t in the finals

...But they're winning solely because of Jimmy lol; he's leading his team in literally every counting statistic this series. People keep talking like his performance right now is a fluke like he wasn't an all-time lucky game-winning roll from being in the ECF last year over the eventual champs and didn't dismantle the #1 seed and 2x MVPs team in the 2nd round to get here in the first place. Heat are very young outside of him and their vets and will have the assets and cap space to add another star so as a team they aren't going anywhere anytime soon either. Unless you really think a post-full achilles rupture 30 year old KD or Doc Rivers with the most ill-fitting roster in the NBA is going to be the bane of their existence like LeBron was for the Raptors lmao

the celtics, bucks, and probably raptors are going to be favored over the heat next year. not saying they’re not a good team, just saying that jimmy’s well-known issues as a teammate might not get the same warm reception if they’re not two games away from an NBA championship

you’re making a tautological argument... they weren’t 2 games away from a title when they were a 4th/5th best team in the east during the regular season

the heat self selected for players who will tolerate jimmy butler before they even had jimmy butler

the devil will be in the trades - the heat are on the hunt for a big free agent, the raptors have to decide on fvv, and the celtics need to upgrade a starter who isnt tatum or brown

as great as the basketball has been i'm taking the bubble results with a massive grain of salt. it's pretty clear that neutral site has had a huge impact on the playoffs so i'll hold off on retconning that the heat were actually the best team in the east all along, etc.

i agree & have made similar arguments... that said i think the rosters are far more even on paper in the east than they are in the west w/ the LA teams heading into next season. and you could reasonably make the argument that jimmy is the playoff alpha dog in the east rn until proven otherwise. giannis, tatum, embiid etc may have better regular seasons than him but going into next year's playoffs i think the consensus will be that he is the one guy (in the east) you'd want for the playoffs. but there's no way the bucks and celtics series go the way they did if the heat had to play road games... i don't think that's very controversial to say

yup, agree completely

I for one do not think Jimmy Butler has two more historically great Finals games in him

I agree but that’s why they play the games I suppose.
I thought lakers in 6 when this started and - though I certainly didn’t imagine this route there - I still think Lakers in 6

he's 2 rebounds and 1 assist away from four straight triple doubles... i think the total point differential over the last 4 games is like 2 points. i don't think the heat will win game 6 bcuz i would never bet against lebron at this stage but i do think they can

you’re making a tautological argument... they weren’t 2 games away from a title when they were a 4th/5th best team in the east during the regular season

― J0rdan S., Saturday, October 10, 2020 10:41 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

he could “wear out his welcome” as they say. anyway I’m rooting for it to not happen because the heat are fun

neutral court playoffs should totally be a thing from now on but obviously won’t

bruh

playoffs crowds rule and are a massive part of nba lore

yeah red card for kev, rabid home fans rule

Wishful thinking but I was imaging how awesome Klay would be in the Duncan Robinson role ... but then again every team could use some Klay in their life

Especially in a game 6