DESPITE taking a 1-0 lead in the 2019-2020 NBA Finals, Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James believes that more work still needs to be done ahead of the Game 2 of their best-of-seven series against Miami Heat on Friday night (Saturday in the Philippines).
The four-time NBA MVP awardee is particular in the Lakers’ flat start in their 116-98 Game 1 victory on Wednesday night (Thursday in the Philippines), where they allowed the Heat to take an early 25-12 advantage.
“I don’t think at the beginning that we were physical enough. They smacked us in the mouth,” James said. “The job is not yet done and we’re not satisfied with winning one game. It’s that simple.”
“We had to get a feel for how hard Miami plays. So after they got out to a 23-10 lead, we knew how hard we had to play to be in this game,” he added. “We’ve got so much more work to do.”
With the Lakers aiming to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series, Anthony Davis vowed to continue to be dominant inside, just like in his NBA Finals debut where he tallied 34 points and nine rebounds.
“It’s the Finals. It’s the first time I’ve experienced this,” said Davis. “I just wanted to come out with a lot of energy and come out aggressive on the offensive glass. I wanted to dominate the paint area.”
On the other side, while the Heat are trailing in the series, Filipino-American head coach Eric Spoelstra remained positive as he knew that Miami showed up in Game 1 can still do better.
“The Lakers set the tenor, the force, the physicality for the majority of the game and they just took control and we weren’t able to get it back,” Spoelstra said. “We’re much better than we showed [in Game 1].”
“You do have to credit the Lakers, and we’ll get to work for the next one,” he added. “You don’t want to leave anything to chance in the Finals. We clearly have to be a lot better.”
Spoelstra, however, is still mum if veteran guard Goran Dragić and center Bam Adebayo will be good to go for Game 2. Both Dragić and Adebayo exited Game 1 with the former tearing his plantar fascia while the latter hurt his shoulder./PN
