The Miami Heat looked like they were destined for a sweep in the NBA Finals but with their championship hopes on the line, Jimmy Butler delivered one of the greatest performances in Heat history, rivaling even those of LeBron James, with 40 points, 13 assists, and 11 rebounds to lead Miami to a 115-104 win in Game 3 of the Finals. The Heat are now on the board in the best-of-seven series, which the Los Angeles Lakers lead 2-1, doing so without All-Star center Bam Adebayo and starting point guard Goran Dragic.
In addition to the monster game from Butler, the Heat had four other players score in double figures in the win. The Lakers had two players score 19 points off the bench (Markieff Morris, Kyle Kuzma), while James had 25 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists, but it was not enough to erase Anthony Davis’ first anonymous game of the postseason. After averaging 33 points and 11.5 rebounds per game in the first two games, Davis had 15 points, five rebounds, and tied for a team-worst minus-26 with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Dwight Howard, who made an impact in the first couple of games, only had three rebounds in Game 3.
The Lakers, as a result of the poor rebounding numbers for many of their high-rebound players, had their lowest rebounding advantage so far of the series, only winning the war on the boards by 6. The Heat were also able to win a +7 advantage in turnovers on their way to get on the board in the NBA Finals series. Game 4 of the 2020 NBA Finals is on Tuesday.
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