Lakers 54-61 Heat, 10:55, 3rd Quarter Duncan Robinson makes a three-pointer to start the second half scoring, so the Heat start off hot. So to speak. Second half begins! Alright, let’s see if Miami can pull this off! What do the Lakers have to do? Well, they committed 14 turnovers in the first half, five of them committed by Anthony Davis, who scored the exact same number of points. They are only down 4. The Lakers cut the mistakes in half and Davis plays like a league-average forward and they probably come out of this with a win. Davis looks anything like he did these last two games and it’s a laugher by the fourth. However, Miami has more of a chance than they probably could have hoped for heading in. Jimmy Butler Jimmy Butler is the leading scorer so far, which is really the only way that Miami is going to win. He’s got 19 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and two steals in a half. Weirdly enough, he’s one of the few players not to have hit a three-pointer. Go figure. Halftime Thoughts Despite being down two of their three best players, Jimmy Butler and the Heat have managed to take advantage of a sloppy Lakers first quarter and have given themselves a tiny lead. Of course, we all remember what happened to them in Game 1 where they looked to be in control only for the Lakers to absolutely blow them out in the second half. They can’t expect Anthony Davis to look this bad for the next two quarters and I guarantee you they’re smart enough to realize that. Halftime! Heat up by 4! Lakers 54-58 Heat, end of the first half Tyler Herro is fouled and goes to the line, making both and that will do it for the scoring on the first half. The Miami Heat, improbably, have a four point lead! Lakers 54-56 Heat, 30.9, 2nd quarter Can’t say that Jimmy Butler hasn’t been doing all he can do to prevent his team from going home, he instantly scores on the other end, but LeBron one-ups him with a three-pointer. Oh hey, Solomon Hill wants to get into the long-range shooting frenzy: he makes a three pointer. At this point. J.R. Smith is like “if they can do it, so can I.” An utterly ridiculous barrage. Lakers 48-51 Heat, 1:39, 2nd quarter Okay Crowder scores immediately. The Heat needed that and they’re also quite happy with the subsequent Butler basket. Nunn then fouls Caruso, he has a chance to cut into the Heat lead which he does with two straight free throws. Lakers 46-47 Heat, 3:10, 2nd quarter Robinson then fouls Alex Caruso, who hits both free throws. The second nearly bounces out, adding a bit of drama. Butler misses a shot, Iguodala gets the rebound but Crowder throws it out of bounds. LeBron scores on the other end and it’s like Miami just can’t shake LA. Lakers 42-47 Heat, 3:35, 2nd quarter Butler realizes there’s not a bucket available so he tries to draw a foul, but instead goes out of bounds and turns it over. Morris dunk on the other end and the Heat’s excellent run has… Never mind, Duncan Robinson hits a three. That will cure a lot of your team’s ails. Lakers 40-44 Heat, 4:27, 2nd quarter Nunn slips, JR Smith steals the ball and James makes it to the other end with a basket and he draws a foul. Of course, he makes the free throw and of course, that will be enough for Miami to cash in a timeout. Lakers 37-44 Heat, 4:44, 2nd quarter Lakers on offense coming out of the break, let’s see if they’ve calmed the waters. Morris… misses a three but so does Crowder. A do-over as Davis gets the rebound… And he’s charged with an offensive foul, a dubious charge call. That’s a third foul and a Lakers turnover. AD is back on the bench. On the other end, Nunn hits a pullup jumper to take advantage. Lakers 37-42 Heat, 6:05, 2nd quarter Rondo with a “no, no, no, NO” three-pointer. Butler scores again and that’s nine straight points for the Heat and that’s a Lakers timeout. Lakers 37-40 Heat, 6:32, 2nd quarter Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, not the most popular Laker (to put it mildly) misses a three and then gets called for a foul. Morris then fouls Butler to put him on the line. He makes both, the Heat add to their lead. Lakers 37-38 Heat, 6:45, 2nd quarter Miami gets going here, Crowder shows off his long-distance range by hitting a three and Butler hits a jumper to put them ahead by the slimmest of the margins. FacebookTwitter 40m ago 01:25 Lakers 37-33 Heat, 8:00, 2nd quarter Rondo finds Davis, this time for a dunk! Wowzers, they might have got him going finally. Oh and Nunn did something good, he hits a jumper… that’s immediately answered with a three pointer from LA’s Alex Caruso. FacebookTwitter 41m ago 01:24 Lakers 32-31 Heat, 8:36, 2nd quarter And Davis breaks the seal with a three pointer, an assist from Playoff Rondo. Lakers back up front BUT Danny Brown fouls Butler and gives him a chance to tie things up. He, alas, only makes one of two. Anthony Davis has not attempted a single shot and, as you probably would expect, has yet to score. The Heat should feel good about this, but despite that they’re only up by a single point and they can’t expect that to last much longer. The Lakers are staying in this thanks to their bench. FacebookTwitter 46m ago 01:19 Lakers 29-30 Heat, 9:00, 2nd quarter Nunn gets called for a foul, his unfortunate game continues on. The Lakers leave an open lane for Crowder, who gets a layup while remaining untouched. LA head coach Frank Vogel doesn’t like this one bit and calls a timeout. FacebookTwitter 48m ago 01:17 Lakers 29-28 Heat, 10:09, 2nd quarter Kuzma gets fouled on a hook shot and he’s going to get a chance at an old-fashioned three. Which he cashes in. FacebookTwitter 49m ago 01:16 Lakers 26-28 Heat, 11:02, 2nd quarter And Morris hits another three so there goes that Miami lead. This has to be absolutely deflating, but Iguodala does hit a basket on the other end. FacebookTwitter 52m ago 01:13 “Hey Ya” is playing during this car commercial and I have the horrifying realization that this song is to me what like, the Beach Boys’ “I Get Around” was to my parents when growing up. FacebookTwitter 54m ago 01:11 Lakers 23-26 Heat, end of the 1st quarter Markieff Morris gets the Lakers another three-pointer and they are starting to creep up on Miami. Kuzma gets called for a foul and after a brief discussion among officials, Olynyk goes to the line for two free throws, both of which he makes. Morris tries to respond with a three, it’s no good but he gets Olynyk to bite and is rewarded with three free throws. Not how you wanna close out a quarter if you’re Miami. Morris makes two out three and, on their very last possession, Kuzma hits another three. The Heat played maybe the perfect first quarter the Lakers committed a ridiculous number of turnovers, and they are up by… three measly points. FacebookTwitter 1h ago 01:07 Lakers 15-24 Heat, 1:21, 1st quarter Hey, the Lakers get their first three-pointer, courtesy of Kyle Kuzma. Butler responds with a 10-foot shot. Kuzma’s next three attempt isn’t as true FacebookTwitter 1h ago 01:06 Lakers 12-22 Heat, 2:30, 1st quarter A shot of Anthony Anderson among the Virtual Fans. I’m so glad to be alive in a world where Philip K Dick’s short stories are starting to come true. And back to the game and we have the 10th Lakers turnover! We’re not even in the second quarter. FacebookTwitter 1h ago 01:03 Miami’s Kendrick Nunn has had the ball twice and he’s turned it over both times. Also not ideal. FacebookTwitter 1h ago 01:01 Lakers 12-22 Heat, 3:03, 1st quarter And in a blink, he’s back on the line. That’s a foul on Solomon Hill, who just barely got in the game, and this time LeBron makes both. The Heat take a timeout. FacebookTwitter 1h ago 01:00 Lakers 10-22 Heat, 3:28, 1st quarter Time for James to make something happen and he draws a tripping foul to get on the line. He makes one of two free throws, his shot looks a little off. FacebookTwitter 1h ago 00:58 Lakers 9-22 Heat, 4:03, 1st quarter Anthony Davis picks up another foul, this on the defensive end. Kelly Olynyk (do they have all of the former Celtics?) is on the line for Miami, he makes both. FacebookTwitter 1h ago 00:56 Lakers 9-20 Heat, 4:48, 1st quarter Another AD turnover and Jimmy Butler hits a layup on the other side. Just the worst possible start for LA here… and now AD gets called for an offensive foul. FacebookTwitter 1h ago 00:55 Lakers 9-18 Heat, 5:26, 1st quarter Davis hasn’t taken a shot yet and the Lakers turn it over twice more. Dwight Howard fouls Duncan Robinson, who makes two free throws. FacebookTwitter 1h ago 00:52 Lakers 9-16 Heat, 7:00, 1st quarter And they commit another turnover, as Anthony Davis loses a ball out of bounds. The Heat can’t take advantage on their end and Crowder picks up his second foul, putting LeBron on the free throw line. He misses the first but makes the second. Andre Iguodala is in to replace Crowder. FacebookTwitter 1h ago 00:50 Four Lakers turnovers already, maybe they were reading the pre-game hype. They can’t keep the Heat for granted, even if they are missing their 2nd and 3rd best players. FacebookTwitter 1h ago 00:47 Lakers 8-16 Heat, 7:31, 1st quarter And then Jae Crowder hits another three, if the Heat are going to win they’re going to have to be making those consistently. James finds Dwight Howard for a dunk as a response… and then straight scores from Miami: Leonard, Duncan Robinson and Butler all score with Butler’s dunk being enough to force the Lakers into an early timeout. FacebookTwitter 1h ago 00:45 Lakers 6-7 Heat, 8:55, 1st quarter Okay Meyers Leonard is going to make the first three-pointer of the game, I would not have bet on that. The Heat are now in front. FacebookTwitter 1h ago 00:44 Lakers 6-4 Heat, 10:10, 1st quarter Tyler Herro responds to get the Heat on the board. James hits two shots, in-between a Jimmy Butler dunk. FacebookTwitter 1h ago 00:42 Opening Tip Lakers 2-0 Heat, 11:34, 1st quarter Dwight Howard with a layup to get things started. FacebookTwitter 1h ago 00:35 So what are we watching this game for, anyway? Well, in the absence of a realistic chance at drama, the broadcast is emphasizing just how amazing LeBron and AD have been this series. The latest spin has been that Davis is the best player that James has every played with. This may not be an explicit dismissal of Kyrie Irving, but I’m taking it to be one. FacebookTwitter 2h ago 00:31 Alright the preshow is over, we’re going to get some real basketball shortly. “Most people think (the Heat) are going to get swept,” Mike Breen says. That is very much correct but this is not really the best way to introduce this broadcast to the casual fans. FacebookTwitter 2h ago 00:24 And now they are comparing LeBron and AD to Kobe and Shaq. I’m not quite sold, if only because they don’t seem to utterly despise each other off the court. FacebookTwitter 2h ago 00:22 The best part of the Finals being on ABC is that those of us who have been watching ESPN and TNT nonstop throughout this Bubble Season are finally getting a break from the 10 or so commercials that have been running nonstop the last few months. I am sure Idina Menzel is a lovely person but I do not want to hear her singing “taxidermy” ever again. FacebookTwitter 2h ago 00:15 The Tweet that sums up the first two games of the 2020 Finals: FacebookTwitter 2h ago 00:12 Adam Silver is talking with Rachel Nichols on the pregame show now, talking about when the next season will begin. He’s saying that the earliest would be Christmas, but it’s far more likely that it would later than that. He points out it’s based on events well out of the league’s control. “The virus will decide,” he says. Maybe our leaders will figure that out eventually, but I’m just a lowly blogger so what do I know? FacebookTwitter 2h ago 00:09 A true wise man is he who knows that he knows nothing: Well, I had Lakers over Bucks, so like half-credit for me? FacebookTwitter 2h ago 00:04 Predictions Okay, so let’s get this out of the way” this game is almost certainly going to be another blowout win for the Lakers. The Heat might be able to keep it close until halftime, but eventually, LA will bury them. I have never been more confident in my life. Does anybody think the Heat win another game in this series? Will we even have a tight final score in either tonight’s game or Tuesday’s Game 4? If you believe, I’d love to hear your arguments because goodness knows it’s a lot more fun to liveblog when there’s actually some drama going on. Despite all odds, the NBA Bubble has been a huge success and a welcome distraction when I think we have all desperately needed one, and it would be a shame if it ended with an anticlimactic, onesided Finals that was mostly decided by injuries. You can chime in either through email (to Hunter.Felt.Freelance@theguardian.com) or Twitter (to @HunterFelt). FacebookTwitter 2h ago 23:58 Throughout their time in the Bubble (a.k.a. Walt Disney World in Orlando), NBA players have been going out of their way to express themselves. So it makes sense that the Lakers’ Anthony Davis showed up for Game 3 wearing a Colin Kaepernick jersey. WNBA Finals Meanwhile, in the WNBA Finals, the Seattle Storm took a 2-0 series lead over the Las Vegas Aces with a 104-91 win. Since this is a five-game series, there’s a very good chance that the Storm could wrap up the WNBA season in Tuesday’s Game 3. Combine that with the knowledge that the Lakers could also be looking to clinch a title that day, it’s well within the realm of possibility that this will serve as the end of basketball for the foreseeable future. I won’t lie, that’s a tad bit of a bummer. (Although goodness knows there’s enough going on in the rest of the world to keep us occupied.) Preamble Not to overstate things, but this might be a particularly important game for the Miami Heat, who have dropped their first two games against the Los Angeles Lakers here in the NBA Finals. Why? Well, here’s a complete list of NBA teams who have dropped 0-3 in a seven-game series and gone on to win the whole thing: Yes, that’s correct, not a single team has done it and it would be a massive undertaking against this Lakers team in particular. It hasn’t helped that Miami didn’t have Bam Adebayo, dealing with a neck injury, or Goran Dragic, who has a plantar fascia injury, in Game 2. Leader Jimmy Butler has been forced to deal with a very thin lineup as they attempted to pull off what was always going to be a tall task. Adebayo and Dragic have both been listed as “out” for tonight’s game, meaning that Butler is going to have to carry the team, someone else on the Heat will have to rise to the occasion and, well, the Lakers have a sloppy game. Even if the Heat play at the best of their abilities, it may not be enough. LeBron James is looking for his fourth championship and Anthony Davis might have already clinched the Finals MVP. The talent disparity might just be too great for it to make much of a difference. Still, that’s why they play the games, as they say. As always, we want to hear from you throughout today’s NBA Finals action: what are your thoughts on the Finals, or this entire strange basketball season? Send them to us, either via email (to Hunter.Felt.Freelance@theguardian.com) or on Twitter (to @HunterFelt). We’ll use them here. It’s Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers! We’re scheduled to start around 7:30pm EST, but I’ll be back before then. FacebookTwitter 6h ago 19:43 Hunter will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s what happened in Game 2: Anthony Davis got most of his points with a feathery shooting touch. LeBron James flexed his muscle to bulldoze his way to damage. And whenever the lead looked even the tiniest bit threatened, the Los Angeles Lakers had an answer. The NBA finals are halfway to a coronation. James finished with 33 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, Davis made 14 of his first 15 shots on the way to 32 points, and the Lakers took a 2-0 lead in the title series by beating the shorthanded Miami Heat 124-114 on Friday night. The Lakers shot 51%, making 16 consecutive shots from two-point range in a stretch that started late in the first quarter and ended late in the third. James and Davis were the first Lakers duo to score at least 32 points in a finals game since Game 3 against New Jersey in 2002, when Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant did it.