Lakers crowned kings of the bubble

Celtics caught

The Los Angeles Lakers' latest championship－clinched Sunday night with a win over the Miami Heat, ending the 2020 NBA Finals in six games－pulled the franchise into a tie with the Celtics for the most in NBA history, 17 apiece.

The Celtics beat the Lakers in the 1963 NBA Finals, giving Boston its sixth title to the Lakers' five. For the past 20,990 days, Boston remained alone atop the list of most championships. No more－not after the Lakers finally caught up.

When the 1986 season ended, Boston had 16 titles to LA's nine. The championship count since then is Lakers 8, Celtics 1.

The Lakers said they were playing the rest of the season in Bryant's memory. They delivered what he did five times for LA－a ring, and the clincher was emphatic.

"You have written your own inspiring chapter in the great Laker history," franchise owner Jeanie Buss said. "And to Laker Nation, we have been through a heartbreaking tragedy with the loss of our beloved Kobe Bryant.

"Let this trophy serve as a reminder of when we come together, believe in each other, incredible things can happen."

Game 6 was over by halftime, the Lakers taking a 64-36 lead into the break. The Heat never led and couldn't shoot from anywhere: 35 percent from 2-point range in the half, 33 percent from 3-point range and even an uncharacteristic 42 percent from the line, not like any of it really mattered. The Lakers were getting everything they wanted and then some, outscoring Miami 36-16 in the second quarter and doing all that with James making just one shot in the period.

Rondo, now a two-time champion and the first to win NBA rings as a player in the cities of Boston and Los Angeles－the franchises now tied with 17 titles apiece－was 6 for 6 in the half, the first time he'd done that since November 2007. The Lakers' lead was 46-32 with 5:00 left in the half, and they outscored Miami 18-4 from there until the intermission.

The 28-point halftime lead was the second-biggest in NBA Finals history, topped only by the Celtics leading the Lakers 79-49 on May 27,1985.

"We didn't get the final result that we wanted," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "But even what I mentioned to the guys, these are going to be lifetime memories that we have together. This locker room ... we're going to remember this year, this season, this experience and that locker-room brotherhood for the rest of our lives."

True to form, the Heat－a No 5 seed in the Eastern Conference that finished with a losing record last season, a team that embraced the challenge of the bubble like none other－didn't stop playing, not even when the deficit got to 36 in the third quarter.

"We're trending in the right direction," Butler said. "We're going to learn from this. We're going to get better. We're going to come back."

A 23-8 run by Miami got the Heat to 90-69 with 8:37 left. But the outcome was never in doubt, and before long confetti was blasted into the air as the Lakers' celebration formally and officially began.

"Laker Nation," Vogel, now a first-time champion who saw his title hopes as Indiana's coach thwarted three times by James and the Heat, bellowed during the trophy ceremony. "We did it."

Miami led the NBA with 94 games played this season－30 more than Minnesota, which played the fewest in the NBA. The Heat finished with 1,247 3-pointers this season, including playoffs, 290 more than any other year in team history.

Tip-ins

Lakers: Davis did not wear the gold-painted sneakers that he had for Game 5; instead, he went with red-and-black ones Sunday. ...Among the ring-winners: Dion Waiters, who began this season with the Heat; 19-year-old Talen Horton-Tucker (he turns 20 on Nov 25) and Kostas Antetokounmpo－the brother of two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Heat: Goran Dragic (torn left plantar fascia) checked in late in the first quarter, his first appearance since Game 1 of the series. "I just wanted to be out there to help my team as much as possible. It is what it is. The Lakers were better," an emotional Dragic said.... Jae Crowder had 12 points and Duncan Robinson had 10 for the Heat.

Join the club

John Salley and Robert Horry were, until Sunday, the only players to win championships with three different franchises. James (Miami, Cleveland) and Danny Green (San Antonio, Toronto) added their names to that list with this title.

AP