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Published 10:05 IST, May 8th 2023

NBA Scores: LA Lakers, Miami Heat surging in series through defensive superiority

The NBA just completed its highest-scoring regular season in 53 years, its teams scoring 282,127 points while a record 20 players made at least 200 3-pointers.

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LA Lakers vs Golden State Warriors
Image: AP | Image: self

The NBA just completed its highest-scoring regular season in 53 years, its teams scoring 282,127 points while a record 20 players made at least 200 3-pointers.

And now two low-seeded playoff teams are surging toward the conference finals with dominant defense.

The Lakers and the Heat are widely considered to be two of the best defensive teams in a league that has rarely been more offense-oriented, and both veteran-led groups turned in sterling defensive performances to take 2-1 series leads in the second round.

Miami hosts the Knicks and Los Angeles hosts the Warriors on Monday night with a chance to seize control of both series largely because they’ve been better defensively.

“We're playing the way we envisioned the Lakers to play,” LeBron James said. “No matter what goes on, we hang our hats on our defense.”

Eighth-seeded Miami held New York to 86 points while winning Game 3 on Saturday, and the seventh-seeded Lakers held Golden State under 100 points for only the fifth time all season in a 30-point blowout win . The victories didn't decide either series, but they clearly showed the direction both winners want to go — and how they want to get there.

The Lakers’ opponents are shooting an NBA-low 41.3% in the postseason, and they give most of the credit to Anthony Davis. The big man has blocked a whopping 37 shots in LA's nine playoff games while altering countless others and playing with the defensive fire of his best NBA seasons, including the Lakers' 2020 championship run in the bubble.

“The biggest thing for me is for us to come out with a mindset to just defend,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said Sunday after practice. “Everything that happens offensively, that's more who has it going, which actions are working. I'm not worried about how we're going to score as long as we're on point defensively, starting with (Davis).”

The Heat went to work late Sunday morning to watch film, before players scattered their separate ways for some semblance of an off day. And there were tons of options: some were going to the Formula 1 race in Miami Gardens, others were making the trip north to Sunrise for Game 3 of the Florida-Tampa Bay NHL playoff series.

“The guys all understand that we have to get a rest, get off your feet,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They’re not going to be standing around, doing that kind of stuff, but I also don’t want them just obsessing about the game (Monday). We have to rest up, recover, let your mind kind of wander to other things. ... It’s a fun time right now in South Florida. It really is.”

For Miami, Jimmy Butler — even with his right ankle at less than 100% — is on a tear like only one other player in Heat playoff history.

He’s scored at least 25 points in all seven of his appearances in this postseason. That’s the second-longest such streak in Heat history; James had 15 games of at least 25 points on the way to his first championship in 2012.

“He’s on his run right now,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “He’s playing at an all-time high.”

He’s shooting 56% so far in these playoffs, 60% from 2-point range. But as far as “at an all-time high,” Butler would disagree, sort of.

“I think if you’d have watched me at Tomball High School, you would say that I was way better than I am now because I was very, very dominant then,” Butler said. “I’m comfortable. I’m confident. I work extremely hard at my craft and I’m very grateful to be able to play for an organization and a city like Miami.”

Updated 10:05 IST, May 8th 2023