If an air of inevitability has wafted through the National Basketball Association Finals, it’s because the Lakers’ boast of the two best players still in the bubble. More importantly, it’s because these players — LeBron James and especially Anthony Davis — have seen fit to shift to a higher gear no one else can reach. Meanwhile, the Heat, already vast underdogs heading into the series, found themselves handicapped even more following injuries to vital cogs Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic early in a Game One battle that quickly turned into a massacre. They did better in Game Two despite the absence of the aforesaid starters, but not by much; they were more competitive, though it simply meant sniffing single-digit deficits midway through the fourth quarter.
Against the backdrop of James and Davis, not to mention the former discard going by the name Rajon Rondo, making a mockery of supposedly stout zone alignments, the Heat are now faced with the need to claim four of the next five Finals outings. It’s a Sisyphean endeavor for the walking wounded, never mind their continued defiance in keeping with their character. They have pledged to keep plodding on, with head coach Erik Spoelstra declaring that “we don’t give a s—t what everybody else thinks. What will it take? Whatever is necessary. Simple as that.”
There’s just one problem, though. Not everybody has fully subscribed to All-Star Jimmy Butler’s “never give up, never surrender” mindset. Make no mistake: the Heat are willing, at least in spirit. Unfortunately, their body has been weak — so fragile, in fact, that veteran Udonis Haslem, could not help but tear them a new one during one telling timeout the other day. They played better after the tongue-lashing, but, really, they shouldn’t have had to first be told off before being better than the sum of their parts. Against the stronger, faster, and far more skilled Lakers, collective resolve is their only calling card. And, so far, they’ve failed to show it with consistency.
Butler is right to contend that “it’s not over,” and that the Heat will “ride with this thing till the wheels fall off.” Yet, there’s a reason pundits view the Lakers’ march to glory as a matter of when and not if. And so lopsided has the Finals been that the only thing left to settle seems to be who will take home the Bill Russell Trophy. Unfair to them? Perhaps. In order to shock all and sundry, though, they need to first shock themselves back into truly displaying the self-confidence that carried them through the first three rounds of the playoffs. Else, they’ll remain deer in the headlights, veritable roadkill for James, Davis, and company.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
