Saturday in the 2023 NBA Playoffs saw the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers move closer to a potential 2020 NBA Finals rematch with big wins at home over the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors. The run of blowouts continued with the losers leaving their 3-point shooting skills at home.
Butler Returns as Heat Gets Defensive Effort in 105-86 Win
There is something very on brand for the Knicks scoring 86 points in a playoff loss, but the fact is this team is showing the difficulty in today’s NBA of relying on the 3-point shot – the Golden State Influence – when you do not have two all-world shooters like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
The Knicks were 8-of-40 from 3 in this game, including 0-for-5 for both Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson. It was similar to Game 1, which the Knicks also lost. Also like Game 1, Jimmy Butler was on the court and had 28 points despite being hobbled a bit again.
Miami only shot 7-of-32 from 3, but it controlled play with great free throw shooting (28-of-31). Neither team shot 39% from the field, but the Knicks were an abysmal 34.1%. The Knicks never got closer than 13 points in the fourth quarter.
Road Warriors Bomb Again in Los Angeles
This is not your usual No. 7 vs. No. 6 playoff series, but after the teams exchanged blowouts where starters barely logged any fourth-quarter minutes, it is 2-1 Los Angeles. The Warriors being terrible on the road has been the story all season after an 11-30 record in the regular season.
Defense has been the main problem on the road, and that happened here again with the Lakers scoring 127 points on 52.5% shooting.
But this was a weird game in the way the Warriors looked to be in control with a 40-29 lead in the second quarter. Steph Curry was looking for his shot early, and Klay Thompson had 11 points in the first quarter. For the first time in 275 playoff games, LeBron James did not even attempt a shot in the first 12 minutes.
But the Lakers closed the half on a 30-8 run and never looked back. Anthony Davis (25 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks) continued his up-and-down trend with a big game. James finished with 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists after showing off some vintage drives to the basket and a blocked shot for his highlight reel.
D’Angelo Russell was a star with five made 3s as he finished with 21 points. The Lakers were much more efficient from deep than the Warriors (48.4% to 29.5%), the Warriors turned it over 19 times, and Thompson scored just 4 points after the first quarter. Davis drew multiple blocking fouls on Draymond Green, who was frustrated and received another technical foul for arguing with a ref.
Even after the Warriors drew to within 10 points in the third quarter, the Lakers opened the lead back to 18 going into the final quarter, which mostly backups played in the 30-point rout (127-97).
Subscribe to Punditfeed on Google News for all the latest updates from the world of sports!
