Bam Adebayo will reportedly miss Game 2 against Lakers
The Heat will be missing one of their best players when they take on the Lakers in Game 2 of the NBA Finals tonight.
After much nebulousness about his availability after sustaining a shoulder injury in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN is reporting that Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo will miss tonight’s rematch against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Miami Heat All-Star Bam Adebayo (shoulder) will miss Game 2 of the NBA Finals vs. Lakers tonight, but there remains hope that he could return for Game 3 on Sunday, sources tell ESPN. The Heat have listed him as doubtful for tonight.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 2, 2020
In short, this sucks, because you never want to see injuries happen to anyone, no matter who you’re rooting for. Even though everyone reading this post on a Lakers blog obviously wants the team to take a 2-0 lead tonight, this is not how any actual competitor wants to do it. You want to beat teams at their best.
That said, and as the Lakers have repeated over and over again throughout these playoffs, the job’s not finished. Not because they’re up 1-0, not if they take a 2-0 lead, and not because the Heat are dealing with injuries to Adebayo and Dragic (the latter of whom is listed as doubtful after tearing the plantar fascia in his left foot in Game 1). They can’t act like they’ve won before they’ve done it.
If anything, despite their overwhelming talent advantage, the Lakers have to lock in even more, because this Heat team is deep and fights hard, and is going to go out there tonight with the mentality of a cornered, wounded animal. The Lakers can’t control Miami’s injury status, no matter how unfortunate. They just have to go out there and execute their game plan, regardless of who is on the floor. They were already heavily favored tonight and will be even more so no, but they have to actually go out there and take this game, and not let an assumed win become an embarrassing loss.
After all, you know the old saying about what happens to people who assume things.
This post may be updated with more information as this story develops. For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.