Bam Adebayo may be coming back
After losing Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic to injuries after game 1, the Heat seemed to be on the back foot after game 1. The Heat had lost 2 stars, and game 2 highlighted how weak the Heat were down low without Bam. Miami can run their offense through Bam and rely on him to shut down the paint as he did against Boston and Milwaukee. Against Anthony Davis and the rotation of the towering Lakers centers, Miami will need Bam Adebayo more than ever in this series. In game 2 the Heat were playing with backup centers Kelly Olynyk and Myles Leneord and the Lakers completely dominated in the pain. Anthony Davis had 32 points while also grabbing 14 rebounds. The Lakers also grabbed 51 boards in game 2 and 50 rebounds in game 3, compared to 41 rebounds in game 2 and 43 rebounds in game 3 for the Heat. When the Lakers dominate the board and get a second chance it makes it ten times harder to beat them. While Olynyk did give the Heat an offensive boost off the bench, he was unable to give the Heat any type of advantage down low. Adebayo can challenge the Lakers on the boards and is also a very talented defender who can limit the offensive impact of Anthony Davis. While Dragic is still doubtful for game 4, Bam has been upgraded to questionable and if the Heat want to even up the series then they should hope that Adebayo can play.
Jimmy Butler can takeover the game
Jimmy Butler came to the Miami Heat over the past offseason, and with him leading the charge the Heat have made it to the NBA Finals. He is a superstar in his own right, but on this Heat team has not been asked to post consistent 30 point games because of the supporting cast in Miami. Without two of their starters and down 2-0, the Miami Heat needed this win and they looked to Jimmy Butler to deliver in game 3. Jimmy Buckets delivered with a 40 point triple double that kept Miami in the game. Butler has shown again that he can take over games just like Lebron or Davis, and he is the person that the Heat rely on to get one on one buckets. Without Dragic, Butler will be asked to take the late game buckets and he has shown that he can do that with his monster game 3 performance.
The Heat are still the team that beat the Bucks in 5 games
The Miami Heat were never expected to be in this position, and now they are the underdogs again. This team is very scrappy, and when we said this series was done after game 2 we got a stellar performance from this Miami team. Guys like Tyler Herro, 17 point, Duncan Robinson, 13 points, and Kelly Olynyk, 17 points, have all been playing at high levels since this playoff started. This Miami team is made up of some tough and scrappy guys that will never give up, and this is the biggest reason why we should never count Miami out.
Top Image: newsbreak.com
Second Image: APImages/Tim Reynolds