LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL – Despite the Miami Heat coming out strong early in the first quarter, Game 1 quickly changed as they had no answer for Lakers superstar big man, Anthony Davis.
In his NBA Finals debut, Davis was a man amongst boys scoring 34 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks to help the Lakers dominate the Heat, 116-98. Lebron James, entering his tenth Finals appearance, was an assist shy of a triple double, in scoring 25 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 assists.
Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell Pope had their fair share as well as Pope poured in 14 and Green 11 points to help Lakers secure the victory.
Miami, making their fifth NBA Finals appearance, in the hopes of claiming it’s fourth NBA championship started off hot in jumping out to an early double-digit lead, 25-12 in the first quarter, before being outscored 104-73 the rest of the game, to find themselves down by as much as 32—at 87-55 in the third quarter—before losing by 18.
During the Lakers’ onslaught, the Heat would see themselves loos starting point guard Goran Dragic (6 points) to a foot injury and power forward Bam Adebayo (8 points) to a shoulder injury. Jimmy Butler led the way for the Heat in scoring 23 points, Kris Nunn added 18 points, Tyler Herro added 14 and Jae Crowder added 12 points.