The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat by a score of 106-93 in Game 6 of the 2020 NBA Finals to clinch their 17th championship.
After missing the playoffs last year, in Lebron James’ first year with the team, the Lakers were determined to get back to the playoffs following a five-year drought.
This past off-season, the Lakers made the move that solidified their spot as a top team in the league. They acquired superstar forward Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans to pair with James. The Lakers instantly became one of the most dangerous teams in the league as they now had two of arguably the best players in the entire league.
When the season began last October, you could tell this wasn’t the same mediocre Lakers team that we had seen over the last few years, as they now had the star power to play at a championship level and proved it throughout the season.
After Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash in January, shockwaves were sent throughout the league. It seemed like destiny for the Lakers to carry on his legacy, and they definitely did.
When the season was suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lakers held the number one seed in the Western Conference. After the season restarted in August, they continued their dominance, unlike the number one seed in the Eastern Conference, the Milwaukee Bucks, who lost in the second round to the Miami Heat. Los Angeles throttled the Trail Blazers, Rockets and Nuggets all in five games before reaching the NBA Finals, where they went on to beat the Heat in six games.
With this year’s championship, the Lakers tied the Celtics for most titles in league history, but many Celtics fans would argue that this is not entirely true. The Lakers count their first five championships from when the team was in Minneapolis, but refuse to retire superstar George Mikan’s number because he wasn’t on the “Los Angeles” Lakers.
Former Celtics star Rajon Rondo also became the second player ever to win a championship with both of these storied franchises. Rondo, who won a title with Boston in 2008, joined Clyde Lovellette as the only other player to accomplish this feature. Rondo remains the only player to do so since the Lakers moved to Los Angeles.
The race to an 18th title will be extremely competitive as the Celtics and Lakers look like they will be two of the top teams in the league for years to come. Boston fell just short of playing the Lakers in the finals, as they lost in the Eastern Conference finals to the Miami Heat in six games.
Boston has a ton of youth and will be in contention for many years to come. Led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who are 22 and 23 years old, the Celtics have been on the doorstep of an NBA Finals appearance for the last few years and there’s no reason why they won’t be again.
The Lakers are expected to re-sign superstar Anthony Davis, who will most likely opt out of the final year of his current contract to sign a long term deal with the team, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. James is also under contract, and as long as those two are there, the Lakers should always be in contention for a championship.
May the best franchise win.
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