Heat on thin ice

Miami Heat fans better hope that Big Face Coffee has rejuvenating powers as Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers saw starters Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo exit with injuries and as a result the Purple and Gold led by as much as 32 points en route to a convincing 116-98 victory.

The good news is x-rays on Adebayo came out negative after he aggravated an already strained shoulder in the third quarter. The all-star’s status is day-to-day. The bad news is The Dragon could be out of the rest of the series after suffering a torn left plantar fascia. Without the former all-star, who is leading the Heat in scoring in the playoffs, Miami may have to rely on rookies Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn to man the point. Even Jimmy Butler had a scare when he twisted his ankle driving to the basket in the waning seconds of the first half.

Coach Erik Spoelstra and Heat president Pat Riley now have 48 hours to either find a magic elixir or some kind of Rosetta Stone to decipher the Lakers and beat LeBron James and Anthony Davis—aka the Monstars. If not, the Heat’s chances of winning the Larry O’Brien trophy—much less extend the series to six or seven games—are as thin as Alex “Bald Mamba” Caruso’s hairline.

The game actually started quite well for the South Beach Boys as Dragic drove and kicked out to Butler and Jae Crowder leading to splashes from 3-point country and in a flash, the Heat were surprisingly up by 13 points. That didn’t last though, as the Lakers’ bench came in and shot them back into contention with a lot of help from AD.

It would go from bad to worse in the second quarter, as LeBron finally joined the show and Playoff Rondo was true to his moniker and as a result LA enjoyed a 17-point lead at the half. To add insult to injury, Adebayo would soon join Dragic in the locker room with his ailing shoulder and the Lakers continued the avalanche of points and the Heat saw their deficit grow to 26 after three quarters of play. Not that I was still watching, as I was so bummed out that I elected to just doze off.

Injuries are part of the game and ironically the Lakers themselves have had their fair share of NBA Finals debacles marred by the injury bug. In the 1989 NBA Finals against the Detroit Pistons, the Lakers came crashing down and missed a three-peat and a fitting sendoff for retiring NBA great Kareen Abdul-Jabbar when Magic Johnson pulled a hamstring in Game 2. The injury would sideline him for the rest of the series, which proved to be a short four-game sweep by the Bad Boys.

Lightning struck twice, as the Lakers again came short in the 1991 NBA Finals against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls when leading scorers James Worth (ankle) and Byron Scott (shoulder) had to exit the series permanently in Game 4. The Bulls would end the series in Game 5 that proved to be their springboard to two more championships (and three more after His Airness unretired and had a full season in 1996) and ended to the Showtime Lakers era.

Just last year, the Toronto Raptors gave Canucks something to brag about when injuries to Kevin Durant (Game 5) and Klay Thompson (Game 6) allowed them to make the most of Kawhi Leonard’s lone season in the Great White North as the Raps won the 2019 NBA championship.

If Adebayo is not close to 100% and Gogi doesn’t see a second of playing time the rest of the series, commissioner Adam Silver might as well gift-wrap the championship to the Lakers. That is unless Kelly Olynyk reprises his greatest hits against Kevin Love on AD (look up the 2015 first round between the Cavaliers and Celtics) or Daniel Stern and Dan Akroyd somehow kidnap The King ala Celtic Pride. I’m of course just kidding and it’s only Game 1. The Heat may make a series of it yet… or I may just have to again take my siestas at an earlier time.