LA Lakers nearly there
LA Lakers are one win away from becoming NBA champions for the first time in 10 years after they beat Miami Heat 102-96.
LeBron the key man
Star player LeBron James finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, proving to be the difference once more. He scored 20 points in the second-half to lead his team to victory.
HIGHLIGHTS: @KingJames drops 28 pts, 12 reb and 8 ast to lead the Lakers to another #NBAFinals victory 🔥 pic.twitter.com/wtmVjV5NF4
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 7, 2020
The match
The Lakers lead the seven-match series 3-1 and can win the title on Friday evening (Saturday: 02:00 BST). Kobe Bryant, who passed away in January in a tragic helicopter crash, was a key part of the last Lakers team to win the NBA championships in 2010.
Miami Heat won the previous match on Sunday evening 115-104 and could’ve drawn level in the series with a win.
The match was evenly poised at half-time with the scores tied at 49-49. Miami were then 54-52 ahead in the third quarter until James intervened with a 29 foot three-pointer and assist to turn the game on its head.
The Lakers were never trailing from that point on and a three-pointer from Anthony Davis with 39.5 seconds left made it 100-91 to the Lakers and took the game away from Erik Spoelstra’s team.
AD: Another Dagger pic.twitter.com/IiRnAee11w
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 7, 2020
Some stats
Jimmy Butler, who scored 40 points for Heat in the previous match, top-scored for Heat again with 22 points while Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson and Bam Adebayo contributed with 21, 17 and 15 respectively.
The Lakers finished with 14 three-pointers compared to 11 to the Heat, and were also more efficient with their free-throws, scoring from 85.7% of them, while Miami were at 80.8%.