Inside The Box Score: 2020 NBA Finals Game 1

by Brian Martin

The Los Angeles Lakers struck first in the 2020 NBA Finals with a 116-98 win over the Miami Heat in Game 1 on Wednesday night in Orlando.

Let’s take a closer look at L.A.’s win with a deep dive into the box score.

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    • Anthony Davis scored 34 points in Game 1, tying him with Elgin Baylor (1959) for the third-most points scored in a Finals debut in Lakers’ franchise history. Only George Mikan (42 points in 1949) and Shaquille O’Neal (43 points in 2000) scored more.
    • According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Anthony Davis (34) and LeBron James (25) are the first Lakers duo to each score at least 25 points in the same Finals game since Kobe Bryant (33) and Shaquille O’Neal (29) in Game 2 of the 2004 Finals.
    • The Lakers shot 15-of-38 (39.5%) from 3-point range in Game 1. They made 13 of their first 19 attempts (68.4%) before missing 17 of their final 19 attempts (10.5%). By the time the Lakers went cold from deep they had already built an insurmountable lead.
    • Game 1 featured a 45-point swing as the Heat lead by as many as 13 points in the first quarter and the Lakers would lead by as many as 32 points in the third quarter. Miami led 25-12 with 4:21 remaining in the first quarter. The Lakers would outscore the Heat 75-30 in less than two quarters of play as they led 87-55 with 6:04 remaining in the third quarter.
    • The Lakers starters finished with an 85-49 advantage in points over the Heat starters, a 36-13 edge in rebounds, a 17-8 lead in assists and a 7-2 advantage in blocks.
    • Kendrick Nunn was a bright spot for the Heat as he scored 18 points on 8-11 FG, 2-4 3P in just under 20 minutes off the bench. The rookie guard entered his first Finals game having scored just 29 total points on 29.3% shooting in 104 minutes in this year’s playoffs.
    • The Heat were outscored by 35 points in the 30:15 that Tyler Herro was on the court in Game 1. Herro attempted a team-high 18 shots but hit just six of them as he finished with 14 points in his Finals debut.
    • LeBron James (25 PTS, 13 REB, 9 AST) finished one assist shy of his 11th career triple-double in the NBA Finals. LeBron already holds the record for most triple-doubles in The Finals (10) and he sits just three shy of tying Magic Johnson (30) for the most in Playoff history.
    • The Lakers are now 3-0 in this year’s playoffs when they make at least 15 3-pointers in a game. They went 7-3 in such games during the regular season.
  • Duncan Robinson was held scoreless on 0-3 shooting (all 3-pointers) in 27 minutes of action in Game 1. It is his first scoreless game of the playoffs and the first time in all of 2019-20 that he’s been held scoreless while playing at least 14 minutes.

Advanced 

    • The Lakers finished with an offensive rebound percentage of 30.4%, compared to the Heat 13.2%. The Lakers collected nine offensive rebounds and turned them into 16 second-chance points.
    • The Lakers’ 101.0 defensive rating marked their fourth-best defensive performance of the playoffs and best since the Conference Semifinals. Between the regular season (23-0) and playoffs (4-1), the Lakers are 27-1 when posting a defensive efficiency of 101 or better.
    • Among players that played more the final 1:23 of the game after the Lakers emptied their bench, L.A.’s Kyle Kuzma (85.1 DefRtg in 22 minutes) and Miami’s Kelly Olynyk (80.6 DefRtg in 18 minutes) posted the top defensive efficiency ratings of Game 1. The Lakers outscored the Heat by 11 points with Kuzma on court despite him shooting 1-7. The Heat outscored the Lakers by 14 points with Olynyk on the floor despite him shooting 1-4.
    • The Lakers’ 68.4% assist rate was their third-highest mark of the postseason. The Lakers had six different players with at least two assists, led by LeBron James with nine.
  • Anthony Davis led all players in usage rate at 30.7%, while Tyler Herro led the Heat at 29.9%. Jimmy Butler led the Heat in scoring (23 points) but finished fifth on the team in usage (23.9%).

Miscellaneous 

    • Anthony Davis scored more second-chance points by himself (12) than the entire Heat team (9). Davis led all players in second-chance points, points off turnovers (9), fast break points (6) and points in the paint (16).
  • Sixteen of Anthony Davis’ game-high 34 points came in the paint. He shot 7-9 inside the restricted area, but just 1-5 from in the paint but outside the restricted area.

Scoring 

    • The Lakers finished with 45.2% of their field goal attempts coming from 3-point range. That is their third-highest mark of the playoffs. Between the regular season (3-3) and playoffs (2-1), the Lakers are just 5-4 when more than 45% of their shots come from 3-point range.
  • The Heat entered the Finals with 20.2% of their points coming from the free throw line in this year’s playoffs – the second best mark of any playoff team and top mark among teams that played more than four games. In Game 1, only 11.1% of Miami’s points came on free throws as they shot 11-14 from the line compared to 25-27 from the Lakers.

Usage 

    • While he was on the court in Game 1, Anthony Davis accounted for 31.3% of the Lakers’ field goal attempts and 36.2% of the Lakers’ points.
    • Jimmy Butler saw an even bigger differential as he accounted for 33.3% of Miami’s points while on the court, but attempted just 22% of their field goals in that time.
  • Jae Crowder was a bright spot for Miami as he shot 4-7 from 3-point range in Game 1 after shooting 4-28 from three in his previous four games. While on the court, Crowder accounted for 43.8% of Miami’s 3-point attempts and 66.7% of their 3-pointers made.

Hustle 

    • Bam Adebayo recorded four screen assists (the same total as the entire Lakers team) in Game 1, which produced 9 Heat points. Adebayo has averaged 4.4 screen assists (4th) for 10.6 points (3rd) in this year’s playoffs.
    • The Lakers recorded 17 deflections in Game 1, nearly doubling the Heat’s 9. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (5), Danny Green (4) and Rajon Rondo (3) each had more than any player on the Heat.
  • The Heat more than doubled the Lakers in box outs as they finished Game 1 with a 21-10 advantage. However, those additional box outs did not lead to more rebounds as the Lakers dominated the glass 54-36 in Game 1.

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