Pat Riley, Pat Riley, Pat Riley

Will the referees please call fouls on James when he lowers his shoulder into the defender when going to the hoop?Or a non call at  the very least.

aarrggghh he had about 3-4 obvious charge that wasn't called. And he had the audacity to demand the Lakers complain to the league about not getting to the freethrow line. Classy guy wants everything easy.

Action, glad to see more intel from you. Big Heat fan here and IDK how it will go tbh but I hope for the best. People do need to realize that the Lakers are not that great of a "team". They are not that deep and after Lebron and AD its a bunch of ehhh. If Miami can have each of there role players to step up and make big plays it should be a good one. Lakers fans and lebron fans are so cocky and I hate it. When Lebron left my team in 2014 it felt like an absolute shit show. Who starts a "dynasty" for 4 years and then to only win twice? Well it makes sense cause he is 3-6 in the finals. Hopefully he chokes again...BOL

Great discussion so far, let me play devil's advocate here.

Reasons why Lakers will win this series:

1. They have the 2 best players on the court (by a significant margin).   How many times has a team in the finals, with clearly the 2 best players, lost the series?   

- 2004 Lakers (kobe/shaq) but they had internal turmoil i would argue (this is the only one in the last 20 years that for sure makes the list)

- 2011 Heat (although you can make an argument, Dirk was 2nd after Lebron)...regardless, current Miami has no one at Dirk's level so not sure this qualifies either

- 2014 Heat (i would not count this, wade was nowhere near his normal level, knees were shot by this point)

2. Lebron will target the following players.  Robinson, Herro, Dragic... there is no where to hide, if miami switches they are toast

3. Denver tried Zone D against Lakers and it did not work.  When you have lebron play making and directing the offence, AD in the middle (shooting goat level from mid-range thus far) it won't work

4. Lakers can play 2 bigs, and miami cannot force them off the floor (Howard/AD).  Howard did a decent job on Jokic at times, which allows AD to roam and rest, and miami has no one to make Howard and AD not be on at the same time (iggy, crowder can't create, butler can't hit threes).   On the defensive side, who will keep AD and howard off the glass?  You have Bam... that's it... who can miami counter with?   Kelly Olynyk?

5. Lakers will dominate the boards

6. Lakers players have more finals experience (lebron, rondo, danny).. even though danny is awful right now.  

7. Lakers will likely get a favourable whistle (Lebron/AD) - star treatment

Miami will have to pack the paint, and hope lakers miss outside shots.   I also think lakers will be the best defence miami will have seen this playoffs.

Prediction: Lakers win in 6.  Although i would not be shocked if it ends in 5.  

6ix. You make a lot of valid points but a few things. 

Two of the 3 teams you mentioned in #1 were lead by Lebron. #2, Lebron does not play defense like that. He will not be switching on Robinson/Herro.#3, I expect very little zone from Miami, it worked against Boston because they had so many stars and Miami needed a better way to defend. The Lakers only have 1-2 shooters on the court at all times. The rest of the points are indeed valid and I do worry about Miamis size. Bam is amazing but we cannot expect him to handle AD+ Howard/Mcgee. 

This series will not come down to lebron/AD. It comes down to the role players. Thats the reality and everyone should know that. 

Lebron is 3-6 only because of Dubbs W/ Durant. This is a 5th seed team up against a team the #1 seed in the West with the 2 best players. Rationalize it all you want. Lakers in another 4-1

Phillip2002, fair points, but i meant miami switching on defence.  If you are correct and miami does not play zone, they will have to switch when lebron calls for a screen.  Having Dragic, Herro or Robinson on lebron is lunch meat, he will score at will on those guys, and if they double, he will find the open man.

"5th seed team" I love people who clearly do not watch and know nothing. 

The thing Miami has going for them is Jimmy does not have to guard 3 guys at once this time. Against Milwaukee he had to focus on Middleton, Bledsoe and help with Giannis. Against Boston he had to focus on Brown, Tatum and help with Kemba. Against LA, he just needs to focus on Lebron. Lebron might be better than Tatum and Giannis, but the Lakes #3 and #4 are no where near the #3 and #4 of the Bucks/Celtics. 

Lakers #3 - Danny Green 

Lakers #4 - Rondo 

Bucks #3 - Bledsoe

Bucks #4 - Lopez 

Celtics #3 - Brown 

Celtics #4 - Hayward 

Heat #3 - Dragic 

Heat #4 - Herro

Lakers have the worst 3+4 of those teams. And the finals come down to not the best 2 players, but the guys after that are what makes a championship team. We saw it with Toronto last year and I hope we see it again in that the depth wins. 

Let me make this easier for you:

Heat vs Sixers (Butler and team better than Embuiid/Tobias)

Heat vs Bucks (Butler and team better than Greek Freak/Middleton)

Heat vs Celts (Butler and team better than Tatum, Brown, Walker)

LakeShow vs Blazers (Lebron/AD better than Dame $/McCollum)

LakeShow vs Rockets (Lebron/AD better than Beard/Russell)

LakeShow vs Nuggs (Lebron/AD better than Joker/Murray)

LakeShow vs Heat (Lebron/AD WILL be better than Butler and team) No one, absolutely no one has an answer for AD/LeBron...simple LOL!!!

LakeShow role players understand that they are "Role Players" and that's all that needs to be understood LOL!!!!

I agree that after 1-2, the lakers get worse compared to other teams but their 1-2 is by far the best in the nba.  There is no other duo that's as good or even remotely close.  So while your point is valid in that Butler can focus on lebron, butler has never faced a team with 2 all nba first team players this playoffs.   Butler could not even stop Kawhi last year, and he was playing with Simmons (all nba defender) and Embiid (good rim protector).

To win nba titles star players matter.  Look at the last 20 champions....the teams that won were either curry/kd, lebron/wade, kobe/shaq, kobe/pau, Duncan/Parker/Manu.  There is 1-2 instances where the team won because of balance and depth (detroit pistons).

Rondo is also a big difference maker.  He can come in and run the offence, plays great defence. 

Right on point!!

And I'll add, KWI has a title with Raps only because Klay went down with an Achilles tear.

LMAOOOO you really just did Butler/TEAM and Lebron/AD and thought it was the same?!?? Team is 13 guys, not 1 buddy

Agreed but the goal is not to stop AD or Lebron. the goal is to try your best to guard them and hope it is enough. If you let both of them score 30, which is 6- total, the Lakers are still going to need to find 60-65 points every night. Not saying it cannot be done as they are the favs obv but stopping them is not the goal 

LOL...U guys all seen Lebrick choke in the finals before with the so called better team...Mavs...Spurs....and even the title heat won vs the spurs...Lebrick was horrible in that 4th quarter of game 6...and got bailed out by Ray Allen...

Take away the Dubs with Durant and he’s 3-4. Still a loser. Take your weak sH1t our of here. It’s only okay for him to form a Superteam in Miami and have 3 top 10 players all on the same team. FOH man. Clown 

Lebron fans are the worst. They will dive deep into a single game and say because this teammates didn't make that shot Lebron does not get blame. And now they think 3-6 is not that bad because he went against good teams. They are the worst. They act like he is 10-0 in the finals and constantly wins everything when in reality he struggles in many big games and ends up hoping around the league and making sure he always get a top 5 player by his side to actually lead his team.  

Exactly and this Lakers team is garbage compare to those Miami teams 

Iggy is gonna own LeBron.

Lebron leaves a team and they all go damn near if not LOTTERY. This current roster without Lebron would be 7th seed at best if that. Because we know AD/Boogie/Holliday couldn't even get out of the 1st round of the playoffs.

I was the biggest critic of Lebron as he bitch slapped his way through the Eastern Conference, but here we are in he's in the Finals in the WEST. 

You can be the cover, but don't come betting Heat will win this series. You outta your fucken mind with your analysis. 

Again, 4-1, 4-1, 4-1, the Heat roster isn't even better than Murray/Joker. 

Good luck Haters!!! LakeShow get's another Chip!! 

how old are you 15? seriously? You’re one dim ass mo fo. Do u know why the teams he leaves become trash? Because he trades every pick they have to stack the deck and mortgages the teams future for older veteran pieces on short term deals, then he QUITS on them to TEAM HOP to the next best team with the better roster and star player, hence AD. He’s a coward who continues to follow the path of least resistance. Carry on now.

Exactly like look at the lakers right now. He traded away all their assets and young talent to get AD. Lets say Bron leaves in a year, he wont cause he old but if he does, the Lakers are shit for the next decade because all their top picks are gone and they will not have enough cap to rebuild a solid team...He ruined Miami for a few years and ruined Cleveland twice. Only difference is that Miami has a great front office and Cleveland does not 

That game 6 was something else. Go back and watch it, at about the minute mark or so, when the Heat are down a couple of buckets and LBJ knows he is toast, the expression on his face is sheer panic and fear, knowing he is about to lose his second title in 3 years after he promised to win not 2 not 3 not 4 titles for them.

1 positive for the Lakers and James.

I believe that “no fans” and a hostile environment benefits Lebron. I’ve seen him tense up and even cramp up under playoff pressure. Playing in an empty gym almost feels effortless, no pressure, Play ball.

Really good point actually. I think that the no fans will also be vital when it comes to role players.