The Los Angeles Lakers are the 2020 NBA champions. With a 106-93 win over the Miami Heat on Sunday, the Lakers clinched their 17th championship in franchise history. LeBron James was named Finals MVP for the fourth time as he won his fourth NBA title and did so with his third different team.
We go inside the box score to break down L.A.’s championship-clinching Game 6 win and the end of the most unique season in NBA history.
History
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- The Lakers clinched their 17th championship in franchise history, tying the Boston Celtics for the most in league history. The Lakers are Celtics are followed by the Bulls and Warriors with six championships apiece and the Spurs with five.
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- LeBron James and Danny Green became the third and fourth players to win championships with at least three different teams – joining Robert Horry and John Salley. LeBron James is the only one of those players to average at least 25 points in the playoffs on three different franchises’ championship-winning teams.
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- LeBron James is the first player in NBA history to win NBA Finals MVP with three different franchises. LeBron posted his highest scoring average (29.8 PPG), highest rebound average (11.8 RPG), highest field goal percentage (59.1%) and highest 3-point percentage (41.7%) of any of his four Finals MVP series.
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- LeBron James joins Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history to win at least four Finals MVPs and four regular-season MVPs.
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- LeBron James joins Bob Cousy, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson and Scottie Pippen as the only players in NBA history to lead their team in assists in the NBA Finals for at least four championships.
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- LeBron James passed Derek Fisher for the most games played in NBA Playoffs history (260); 55 of those games have come in the NBA Finals as LeBron won his fourth title in his 10th trip to the championship series.
- Rajon Rondo helped Boston win its 17th championship in 2008 and helped Los Angeles win its 17th championship in 2020. Rondo becomes the second player to NBA history to win championships with both historic franchises, joining Hall of Famer Clyde Lovellette (1954 with Minneapolis Lakers; 1963 and 1964 with Boston).
Traditional
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- The Lakers led 28-20 at the end of the first quarter and outscored the Heat 36-16 in the second to take a 28-point lead (64-36) into halftime. It marked the second-largest halftime lead in Finals history, trailing only Game 1 of the 1985 Finals, a game that is dubbed the “Memorial Day Massacre” when the Celtics led the Lakers by 39 (79-49) at the half and went on to win 148-114. The Lakers did rally to win that series in six games.
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- LeBron James capped off his fourth title with his 11th NBA Finals triple double (28 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists) in Game 6. LeBron has recorded a triple-double in 20% of the 55 games he’s played in the NBA Finals. It was LeBron’s fifth triple-double of this year’s playoffs and 28th of his playoff career. He already owns the lead in NBA Finals triple-doubles and trails Magic Johnson (30) for the most in playoff history.
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- Anthony Davis had 19 points, a game-high 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and a steal in Game 6 as he won the first NBA championship of his career in his first season with the Lakers. For the Finals, Davis averaged 25.0 points, 10.7 rebounds and shot 57.1% from the field, 42.1% from three and 93.8% from the free throw line. After making his first 27 free throws, Davis missed two in Game 6 to snap his perfect streak.
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- Despite missing the first five games of the playoffs, Rajon Rondo recorded 105 assists in this year’s playoffs, all while coming off the Laker’s bench. His 105 assists in the playoffs are the most by a bench player in one postseason since 1970-71, surpassing Manu Ginobili’s 95 in 2014.
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- In addition to the 47 combined points from LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers got big contributions from players like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (17 points, 6-13 FG), Rajon Rondo (19 points, 8-11 FG) and Danny Green (11 points, 5 rebounds) as L.A. had five players score in double figures in the championship-clinching game.
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- Miami’s three lowest scoring games of the 2020 playoffs came against the Lakers in the Finals, with the Heat’s 93 points in Game 6 being a playoff-low.
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- According to Elias Sports Bureau, Jimmy Butler joins LeBron James (2016) as the only players in NBA history to lead their team outright in points (26.2), rebounds (8.3), assists (9.8), steals (2.2) and blocks (0.8) in an NBA Finals series.
- Goran Dragic had five points, five rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes off the Heat bench in his first action since leaving Game 1 with a foot injury. Dragic entered the Finals as Miami’s leading scorer in the playoffs at 20.9 points per game.
Advanced
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- Anthony Davis grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds in Game 6 as he collected 20.8% of all available rebonds in his 35 minutes on the court.
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- The Lakers defense allowed only 83.8 points per 100 possessions in the 33 minutes that Alex Caruso was on the court as he got his first start of the playoffs in Game 6.
- LeBron James accounted for 43.5% of the Lakers’ assists while he was on the court and finished with an assist/turnover ratio of 10.0 as he had just one turnover against his game-high 10 dimes.
Miscellaneous
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- The Lakers scored 49.1% of their points in the paint in Game 6, including 50 inside the restricted area as they shot 25-35 at the basket. That was the highest percentage points in the paint for the Lakers in this series.
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- LeBron James led all players in points in the paint (20), fast break points (10) and points off turnovers (6) as the Lakers dominated all three categories.
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- Game 6 was the first game of the 2020 Finals to not feature a single lead change. There were three ties early before L.A. took control and eventually led by as many as 36 points.
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- The Lakers outscored the Heat 18-5 in second-chance points, with Anthony Davis (6) single-handedly outscoring the Heat as a team. For the Finals, the Lakers won second-chance points 89-55.
- The Lakers doubled up the Heat in fast break points in Game 6, as they did for much of the Finals. Over the course of the six-game series, the Lakers outscored the Heat 82-39 on fast break points.
Scoring
-In the first three rounds of the playoffs prior to the Finals, the Lakers scored 53.2% of their points on 2-pointers, 29.8% on 3-pointers and 16.9% on free throws. During the Finals, those percentages leaned more heavily on the 3-point shots as 46.4% came on twos, 38.2% came on threes and 15.5% came on free throws.
Usage
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- LeBron James accounted for 30.8% of the Lakers’ points and 47.6% of the Lakers’ assists while he was on the court in Game 6.
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- Bam Adebayo accounted for 33.8 of Miami’s points, 27.8% of Miami’s rebounds, 23.8% of Miami’s assists and 50% of Miami’s blocks in his 42 minutes on the court.
- Jimmy Butler’s 13.5% usage rate was his lowest mark of the Finals and second lowest of the entire 2020 Playoffs.
Four Factors
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- The Lakers had decisive advantages in three of the four factors in Game 6. L.A. posted a superior effective field goal percentage (54.5 to 50.6), turnover ratio (14.4 to 15.8) and offensive rebound percentage (24.0 to 18.8).
- The Heat held the advantage in free throw rate (0.278 to 0.157), but the Heat did not take advantage of their additional free throw attempts. Miami shot 13-22 (59.1%) from the free throw line in Game 6, which was not only their lowest mark of the Finals, but of the entire 2020 Playoffs.
Hustle
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- The two top screeners in Game 6 were Alex Caruso for L.A. and Duncan Robinson for Miami as each had three screen assists, which produced eight and seven points, respectively, for their teams.
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- The Lakers had 20 deflections in Game 6 compared to 13 for the Heat. While those 20 deflections only resulted in five steals, they do indicate how active the Lakers’ defense was all night.
- The Heat did their best to keep the rebounding battle as close as possible as they recorded 22 box outs compared to just 8 for the Lakers in Game 6. The Lakers won the battle of the boards in each game, but after being destroyed on the glass in Game 1 (-18), the Heat kept the rebound margin to seven or less in each of the remaining five games.
