“There Will Be Always Be That Asterisk”: Miami Heat President Disregards Lakers NBA Finals Victory

The 2020 NBA Finals saw the Lakers win their first title in 10 years behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis. However, their opponents, Miami Heat, were never at their 100%.

The Heat lost both Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic in Game 1 of the finals. One might wonder, if the two players were available, could Miami have pushed the series to seven games? Well, according to president Pat Riley, that would have been the case.

Riley recently revealed his thoughts about Heat’s performance in a recent interview.

“I would like to see what it would be like with everybody whole. We’ll get our chance again. The Lakers have the greatest player in the game today in LeBron [James] and Anthony Davis.

“They beat us fair and squarely. But there will be always be that asterisk; if we had Bam and Goran 100 percent — Goran was our leading scorer [entering the Finals] — it might have gone to a seventh game.”

Despite being short-handed for the majority of the series, the Heat fought well. Superstar Jimmy Butler went berserk, but the duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis was too much for Miami.

Maybe if they had Dragic and Adebayo at their 100%, the outcome might have been different. This will always remain up for discussion, but the Lakers had the better team after all. Next year, if both teams make a few changes, we might see a rematch of Heat vs Lakers in the Finals.

Can the Los Angeles Lakers repeat next season?

In the next few months, the 2020-21 season will begin and the purple and gold will defend their title. However, next year the competition will be at an all-time high in the league.

Both the Western and Eastern Conferences have multiple title contenders who can dethrone the Lakers. Moreover, LA still needs to find players who can consistently drain the three-point shot for them.

This is unarguably a glaring issue in the Lakers’ offense, which needs to be improved. If the Lakers can improve this flaw, they should be set for the next season and will be in a better position to defend their title.