Miami Heat: What in the Heat happened in Game 1 of the NBA Finals?

The Miami Heat got blasted by the Los Angles Lakers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. What happened to the boys from Biscayne?

I’d love it if someone would pinch me, say that Wednesday’s Miami Heat game didn’t actually happen, and that it was all just a bad dream, but I’m facing the reality that we lost this game and thus, moving on to the next one.

Let’s talk about last night’s game though. It started off great. The Heat came out with a strong game, blowing open a 13 point lead early, before the Lakers and Lebron just completely took over, becoming the super team that everyone knows them to be.

On top of that, the injury bug hit us hard! Goran Dragic got hurt, which we have since learned is a plantar fascia tear in his foot.

Though he’s not ruling out coming back to play again before the series is over, we don’t know when. Will it be Friday? That remains to be seen.

Jimmy Butler also got hurt, awkwardly turning his ankle on two different occasions, once before halftime and once towards the end of the game. Bam Adebayo further aggravated that arm/shoulder injury from the end of the Boston series as well.

The Miami Heat are beat up, but they still have a series to play. They can bounce back, but it won’t be easy either.

Another aspect of the game where the Lakers dominated over the Miami Heat was in shooting the three-ball. By halftime, the Lakers had already hit 11 three-pointers.

Once the third quarter began, the Lakers’ presence simply became suffocating. The Lakers went up by as many as 30 points and there was simply no stopping them.

Duncan Robinson didn’t have a good game at all. He didn’t score any points, which is not how a starter needs to perform.

So, the question is this… what needs to happen tomorrow in order for the Heat to tie up this series? Well, it majorly depends on who is available.

Dragic won’t be able to perform at 100% due to his foot injury when he comes back as he and Bam Adebayo are currently listed as doubtful. Jimmy Butler was clearly playing hobbled, so we’ll see how that plays into the rotation decisions as well.

For me, I’d give Meyers Leonard some time off the bench to see what he can contribute. I’d also give Kelly Olynyk a few more minutes, if not as many as he can handle.

We certainly need to work on hitting some more of our three-pointers, although Jae Crowder got it somewhat going again in Game 1. We also need to lock in on creating more turnovers from the Lakers and just playing the Miami Heat brand of basketball that we’re capable of.

That’s all I have for now and thanks for taking the time to check it out! Let’s turn this around for Game 2. Let’s go Heat!