NBA Finals: LA Lakers crush Miami Heat to capture 17th title
- Lakers comfortably beat Heat 106-93 to equal record
- LeBron James drives Los Angeles team with triple double, earning fourth NBA Finals MVP
A Los Angeles Lakers team led by superstar LeBron James dominated the Miami Heat 106-93 on Sunday to win a record-equalling 17th NBA championship but their first in a decade.
James added another chapter to an epic career, fuelling the Lakers with a triple-double of 28 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists and capturing his fourth NBA title with a third different team, as well as earning NBA Finals Most Valuable Player honours for a fourth time.
“It means a lot to represent this franchise,” James said, recalling that he told team owner Jeanie Buss when he arrived in Los Angeles in 2018, “I wanted to put this franchise back where it belongs.
“For me to be a part of such a historical franchise is an unbelievable feeling.”
Anthony Davis, playing in his first championship series after years of frustration in New Orleans, added 19 points and 15 rebounds as the Lakers completed a four-games-to-two triumph in the best-of-seven championship series more than eight months after the death in a helicopter crash of team legend Kobe Bryant – who led the Lakers to their last title in 2010.
The Lakers out-hustled, outmuscled and outplayed the Heat, making sure it wouldn’t come down to any last-gasp effort as it did when they were denied in game five on Friday.