LeBron James scored 20 of his 28 points in the second half, while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope came through with clutch baskets down the stretch as the Lakers held off the Heat 102-96 in Game 4 of the 2020 NBA Finals to take a 3-1 series lead and move one win away from the NBA title.
Let’s take a closer look at the Lakers’ win with a deep dive into the box score.
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- Kentavious Caldwell Pope finished with 15 points on 6-12 FG, 3-8 3P including two clutch baskets (a corner 3 and a driving layup) to help the Lakers hold off the Heat. The Lakers are 12-2 in 2019-20 (regular season and playoffs) when KCP scores at least 15 points.
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- LeBron James finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists in Game 4. He shot 8-16 from the field and 10-12 from the free throw line. The Lakers are 8-1 this season when LeBron attempts at least a dozen free throws in a game.
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- After finishing with 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 turnovers in 33 minutes during L.A.’s Game 3 loss, Anthony Davis had 22 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks in 42 minutes during the Lakers’ Game 4 win. The Lakers outscored the Heat by 17 points in the 42 minutes that Anthony Davis was on the court; they were outscored by 11 in his 6 minutes on the bench.
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- Bam Adebayo (6-8) and Duncan Robinson (4-7) were the only two Heat players to hit at least half of their shot attempts in Game 4. All other Heat players combined to shoot just 22-60 (36.7%) from the field.
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- Jimmy Butler fell one assist shy of posting his second straight triple-double as he finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals in 43 minutes in Game 4.
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- The Heat’s 96 points were their lowest total of any game this postseason. The Heat are 1-2 in the playoffs when being held below 100 points and were 1-8 in such games during the regular season.
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- The series trend continued that the team that won the first quarter went on to win the game. The Lakers won the first quarter 27-22, with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scoring 10 points on 4-6 FG, 2-3 3P in the period. Jimmy Butler led all players in the first with 11 points on 5-5 shooting, but the rest of the Heat shot just 5-16.
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- Game 4 featured nine ties, nine lead changes an no team lead by more than nine points.
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- Tyler Herro has set an NBA record for most threes made by a rookie in a single postseason. He shot 3-7 from beyond the arc in Game 4 and is shooting 45-123 (36.6%) for the playoffs.
- LeBron James has scored at least 25 points in eight consecutive playoff games. It is the longest active streak across the NBA; Joel Embiid and Klay Thompson are tied for second at four games apiece.
Advanced
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- The Lakers offense scored 114.5 points per 100 possessions in the 32 minutes that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was on the court; the highest mark of any Laker in Game 4.
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- The Lakers defense allowed just 92.5 points per 100 possessions in the 42 minutes that Anthony Davis was on the court; the highest mark of any player that logged at least 10 minutes in Game 4.
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- The Heat’s 104.3 offensive rating was their third-lowest mark of the postseason. Miami has gone just 2-5 when their offensive efficiency is below 110.
- With a pace of just 92.0 possessions per 48 minutes, this was the second-slowest paced game of the series. The Heat’s only win came in the fastest-pace game at 99.50.
Miscellaneous
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- The Lakers outscored the Heat 12-7 on second-chance points. For the series, L.A. has a 20-point advantage in second-chance points.
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- After scoring 52 points in the paint in their Game 3 win – their highest mark of the postseason – the Heat were outscored in the paint 34-32 in Game 4. Jimmy Butler scored a career-best 26 points in the paint in Game 3, but was held to 12 in Game 4.
- Anthony Davis (8) and LeBron James (7) combined to draw 15 personal fouls in Game 4 – one more than the entire Heat team combined.
Scoring
- Only 50.6% of the Lakers field goal attempts came on 2-pointers in Game 4, continuing a trend that has seen the Lakers shoot fewer twos and more threes in the Finals than they had all season leading up to this series. Four of their six lowest %FGA 2PT have come in The Finals. During the regular season, 64.2% of all Lakers’ FGA were 2PT, in the playoffs before The Finals that number dropped slightly to 61.8%. For this series, it is at 51.0%.
Usage
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- LeBron James led all players in usage rate at 33.1% in Game 4. He accounted for 35.0% of L.A.’s points and 47.1% of L.A.’s assists while he was on the court.
- In his first game back since Game 1, Bam Adebayo finished with 15 points on 6-8 FG, 7 rebounds and 1 assist in 33 minutes. Bam’s 5.9% assist rate was his third lowest of the postseason; the Heat are 0-3 when Bam’s assist percentage is below 10%. They went 2-3 in such games during the regular season.
Four Factors
- Miami has lost the battle on the offensive glass in each game of the series. In Game 4, they kept the offensive rebound percentage margin the closest as they grabbed 21.7% of offensive rebounds and allowed the Lakers to grab 28.9% (-7.2%). That is the first single-digit margin of the series: Game 1 (-17.2%), Game 2 (-21.3%), Game 3 (-11.7%).
Hustle
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- The Heat finished with 10 screen assists, which produced 26 points in Game 4. After registering a total of 10 screen assists for 21 points in Games 1 and 2 combined, the Heat have averaged 10.5 screen assists for 26.5 points per game over their past two games.
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- Jimmy Butler and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope each registered a game-high four deflections in Game 4. Butler finished with a game-high three steals, while Caldwell-Pope had none.
- Bam Adebayo contested a game-high eight 3-pointers in Game 4. Anthony Davis contested a game-high 17 shots, with 15 of those being 2-point attempts.
