Lakers and Heat on track to run it back and meet again in NBA Finals

Death, taxes, and both LeBron James and Jimmy Butler on a playoff tear.

Those tend to be the three NBA inevitabilities this time of the year, as both James and Butler have reminded the basketball world, each now one victory in their respective second-round playoff series shy of advancing to the conference finals.

It was only three seasons ago that these two teams met in the self-isolated Orlando bubble with the 2020 NBA championship on the line. Now, there’s a very real chance at an encore. Only 4.7% of teams in NBA history to go down 3-1 in a playoff series ever come back to win, meanwhile both the Sixers-Celtics and Nuggets-Suns series are tied at two games apiece.

James, of course, won the title in six games the first go-round, simply over-powering an exhausted Heat team with Anthony Davis’ star power on full display in the series. The Lakers then spent two seasons outside of the championship hunt finding the right pieces for a second run out West. Butler was swept out of the first round in 2021, then lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals last season.

Yet despite poor regular-season starts that wrecked their playoff standings, both Butler and James have ripped through their respective conferences, emerging from the sudden-death play-in tournament as dark horse championship contenders peaking in the second round.

Butler has been an unstoppable force in the Eastern Conference, averaging 33.5 points through eight playoff games. His Heat dismantled Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks via a gentleman’s sweep in the first round and currently find themselves up, 3-1, over the fourth-seeded Knicks with Monday’s win in Miami, the lone loss coming in a narrow Knicks victory when Butler sat with an ankle injury.

James’ Lakers also took a commanding 3-1 series lead over Stephen Curry and the defending champion Golden State Warriors on Monday. They are one win shy of facing the winner of the tied Nuggets-Suns series after manhandling the Memphis Grizzlies in the opening round.

And there’s an argument to be made James has yet to play his best playoff basketball of the season.

The road to the Finals only toughens on both ends. Both the Heat and Lakers will be considered underdogs in the standings should they proceed to close out their second-round opponent.

James is also attempting to make his second NBA Finals appearance despite a chaotic, blockbuster trade that dampened the season outlook.

In the summer of 2017, Kyrie Irving blindsided the Cleveland Cavaliers with a trade request, forcing his way to Boston for a return that included Isaiah Thomas (who was hobbled with a hip injury), Jae Crowder and draft compensation. By the February 2018 trade deadline, both Thomas and Crowder were on outbound flights, as were the majority of the players the Cavs re-tooled with after the Irving trade.

Yet James still powered through the Eastern Conference with a ragtag group of players assembled on the fly — just like he’s doing this season on the opposite coast.

The Russell Westbrook experiment ended poorly for all involved and came to an unceremonious end at the trade deadline, when the Lakers sent Westbrook anywhere but there (to the Utah Jazz) in a deal that brought in D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt. The Lakers also acquired Rui Hachimura, a former top-10 overall pick, in an earlier deal to help add size and strength on the wing.

In a league with so much roster turnover, it’s the stability that James creates on the basketball court that remains one of the best attributes he gives a franchise. It’s plug-and-play any time The King is leading the charge.

The same can be said for Pat Riley’s Miami Heat, who continue to find ways to stay in the championship hunt without the traditional championship pieces.

The Heat lost both former Sixth Man of the Year and 20-point-per-game scorer Tyler Herro (broken wrist) and ex-NBA All-Star Victor Oladipo (patella) to first-round injuries but simply moved the next man up a slot or two in the rotation and continued, business as usual.

Butler, for example, watched courtside with a swollen ankle and a Cheshire cat grin across his face as Max Strus, Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent combined for 55 points at Madison Square Garden. Those three nearly defeated the Knicks in Game 2, losing by just five. They also watched as Butler gutted through a sprained ankle in Game 1 and stayed on the floor to help lead his team to victory.

It’s a testament to the culture Riley and Erik Spoelstra have fostered in Miami, and the very reason the Heat have a legitimate shot at emerging as the Eastern Conference finalists no matter which of the Celtics or 76ers they draw.

And when Butler is on a tear like this, there’s no team who wants to see him.

Except maybe James, in what would make for a rematch both teams would likely welcome.

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