On Wednesday, September 30th, the first game of the highly anticipated NBA Finals took place, pitting the Los Angeles Lakers against the Miami Heat. The Lakers entered the playoffs as the top seed in the Western Conference and, as fan favorites in the league, had high expectations of making the finals. The Miami Heat, on the other hand, entered the playoffs as the fifth seed and had very little expectations of making it very far in the playoffs, let alone winning the Eastern Conference Championships and playing in the finals. This is the first time the Miami Heat has made it to the finals since 2014, when they had the great Lebron James on their team, who is, of course, playing against the franchise now. With the first two games of the finals underway, the Lakers boast a 2-0 lead, and their performances have been immensely dominant. 

In the first two games of the series, we saw the Lakers’ superstars Anthony Davis and Lebron James exhibit assertive and powerful play, which is to be expected from these experienced players. Lebron and Davis together accounted for a total of 59 points in the first game and 65 points in the second game, a testament to the way they have played in these finals. Lebron, being a finals veteran who has led a number of teams to championships, such as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat, looks like he will become the third player in NBA history to have won finals with three different franchises. 

Basketball enthusiast Benjamin Hardani, a sophomore at Quartz Hill High School, says, “When Lebron wins another championship, and probably Final’s MVP, he will have his name cemented as the greatest player of all time. After all, he’s able to join practically any team and single-handedly create a dominant franchise, which we’ve seen time and time again.”

Looking back at the first two games, we have to look at what went so wrong for the Heat, considering they played very well leading up to the finals and their star players, Jimmy Butler and Tyler Hero, had strong performances for the team. 

Benjamin Hardani comments, “Honestly, the Heat was outmatched coming into the finals itself. They lack experience and stood no chance from the start. Even though they have a solid coach in Erik Spoelstra, the Lakers had it from the start, which we’ve seen in these games.”

In all, the Lakers have a very promising chance of winning an NBA Championship this season. We are all looking forward to the way these finals will play out, let’s go Lakers!