AFTER being denied of coronation in Game 5, Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James urged his teammates to be “even-kneeled” ahead of Game 6 of their 2019-2020 National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals against Miami Heat on Sunday night (Monday in the Philippines).
The four-time NBA MVP awardee said the key to closing out the Heat for a first NBA crown since 2010 will be focusing on winning a single game and not on the celebration.
“At the end of the day, you don’t predetermine anything and you take the game as it’s going and you play,” said James, who scored 40 points in Lakers’ 111-108 Game 5 defeat.
“You play each quarter, you play each possession and you live with the results,” he added. “You don’t think about what could happen at the end of the game and things of that nature. You don’t get caught up in the aftermath.”
James also noted that the Lakers could not sulk on their endgame blunders, such as the wide-open trey miss of Danny Green and wide pass by Markieff Morris, and move on and try to close out the series in Game 6.
“We’ve got to be better. We have to stay in the moment,” James said. “How we make the adjustments and how we learn from Game 5, in our film session and when we get together and prepare ourselves for Sunday, will show the difference.”
Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler said after surviving a nerve-wracking Game 5, Miami is even more determined to pull off another shocker and stretch the series to do-or-die.
“I left it all out there on the floor along with my guys,” said Butler, who had triple-double 35 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. “And that’s what we’re going to have to do the rest of the way. We’ve got two more games to get.”
“That’s what the team asked of me. That’s what they need me to do,” he added. “I know I’m capable of it. I have a great group of guys around me. That gives me a lot of confidence to go out there and hoop.”/PN
