The top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers are not “Playing Around”

The Los Angeles Lakers returned to the National Basketball Association finals for the first time in a decade and sent a very clear message.

Not right away, but after the underdog Miami Heat seized a 13-point lead with a commanding start, and for the first six minutes, everything went well for the 5th-seeded Eastern Conference champions. After that, it was all Lakers, with the top-seeded Western Conference winners storming back with a late opening quarter burst to claim a 34-28 lead as the quarter wound down, it was all uphill behind the play of LeBron James and Anthony Davis in their 116-98 triumph in game one.

Actually, it wasn’t as close as that. In the fourth quarter, LA head coach Frank Vogel inserted everybody on his bench except his assistants and the team trainer. The first-quarter lead had increased to 65-48 at halftime and a resounding 86-67 after three quarters. The 23-10 deficit was all James, Davis and company needed to silence Miami.

“You have to get a feel for for how hard Miami plays,” said James, who turned in 25 points and game of 13 rebounds and nine assists. “They smacked us in the mouth and we got a sense of that, and from that moment when we needed to call two time outs, we started to play to our capabilities.”

Sure did. Not that accurate from the 3 in these playoffs, the Lakers suddenly got red-hot, tossing in 9-of-11 from the 3 in the final 16 minutes of the fist half. Of the nine Los Angeles players who played in the first two quarters, eight attempted 3s and all eight made at least one. Before that, the Heat closed the opening quarter on a 19-3 run. A 3-pointer tossed in by 22-year-old rookie Tyler Herro put the Heat in front 43-41 with 7:33 remaining before the intermission at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Then Vogel’s team took off again, this time on a soaring 24-5 run. The third quarter started LA on another run, this one 18-3, and the rout was officially on as Miami fell to 1-5 in first games of the title series, while the Lakersimproved to 17-15 in first games of the NBAfinals. In these restarted shortened season playoffs, Los Angeles had made only 33 percent from deep at Disney World out of 21 of the 22 qualifiers that spent time in the bubble of this world wide coronaviruspandemic.

The 6-foot-10 Davis, in his first NBA final, had another big game. He had the game-high 34 points, took down nine boards, and handed out five assists. He made 11-of-21 tries from the field and added 2-of-4 3s. In all, theLakers wound up with 15-of-38 attempts from the 3, with James adding a pair and Danny Green’s 11 points included three 3s.

Los Angeles five players in double figures, with guards Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Alex Caruso scoring 13 and 10, respectively, and veteran Dwight Howard contributed eight boards in the 54-36 rebounding advantage of the Lakers, who also had more shot blocks, 8-5, more steals, 7-4, more assists, 26-23, and Davis and James turned in 38 and 36 minutes each.

Meanwhile, the Heat, who disposed of the Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics, all higher seeds, left beaten and batted. Early in the second quarter, team leader Jimmy Butler limped off after falling and twisting his left ankle, Not long after, top playoff scorer, guard Goran Dragic was helped to the sideline and was diagnosed with a torn plantar fascia in his left foot, and which obviously jeopardizes his availability for the rest of the finals.

Butler, though, did return. He’s a battler, knows he’s needed, and played in obvious pain while tallying a team-high 23 points and dishing out five assists. But the injury limited his rebounds to just two. Kendrick Nunn, who entered for Dragic, had 15 points and five boards, the same as veteran Andre Iguodalacoming off the bench to bring down five rebounds. Herro added 14 points and JaeCrowder 13. But Duncan Robinson, who was a scoring threat all through the playoffs, was shutdown with zero points. Miami was good for 11-of-35 3s, but most of them early and late in the contetst.

In between, it was Lakers time, and Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra credited them.

“We’re much better then we showed tonight,” he said, “but you have to credit the Lakers, and we’ll have to get to work for the next one. Game two is Friday night and we’ll see what we have, and that includes the injuries.”

James’ teams had gone 1-8 in game one of past playoff finals, with losses in each of the last seven openers. Not this one.

“We kind of picked it up on both ends of the floor,” Davis said.

The only way the Heat could trim the huge deficit was a fourth-quarter burst that turned a total disaster into something more palatable in terms of final margins.

But the Lakers did whatever they wanted before this. They frowned on the 13-0 opening quarter run by Miami, the 23-10 gap, and proceeded to tear apart the Heat zone defense that had been a factor through these playoffs. They found open men inside for easy layups, hit from outside as a team, and had no problem getting the ball up court, with veteran guards Rajon Rondo and J.R. Smith and forward/guard James just pushing, pushing, pushing past Miami.

EXTRA POINTS: The NBA finals record book is basically a James scrapbook of career achievements, and he raised his spot on some of those lists Wednesday. He became the seventh player to appear in 50 NBA finals and could climb all the way to a tie for third place on that list if this series goes seven games. He has passed Michael Jordan and George Mikan for fifth in finals free throws.

Just think, he starred nationally at St. Mary’s-St. Vincent High School Akron, Ohio, was ineligible to compete in college because of gifts and cash handed our by colleges while he was still in high school. That was a no-no and despite this, has been established as one the finest to ever take the court in hoops, and that’s a done deal as he seeks a fourth NBA championship.