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No question that LeBron James is on the Mount Rushmore of NBA greats, but one thing he has never done is win an NBA Finals in a sweep. He will not this year, either. It sure looked like the Los Angeles Lakers might sweep the Miami Heat after Los Angeles dominated the first two games and with Miami down two injured starters in Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic due to injuries.
However, on Sunday night in Game 3 the Heat pulled the 115-104 stunner as 9.5-point underdogs behind a historic night from their best player, Jimmy Butler. Butler led all players with 40 points (despite not even attempting a three-pointer), 13 assists and 11 rebounds in the victory, become only the third player ever to lead all players in each category (LeBron did it twice in 2015 with the Cavs) in an NBA Finals game.
Butler also joined James and Jerry West as the only players with a 40-point triple-double in an NBA Finals game. It was Butler’s second 40-point game this postseason, tying LeBron and Dwyane Wade for the most such games in Heat single postseason history. It was Miami’s eighth win as an underdog in the 2020 playoffs, one shy of the 1995 Houston Rockets for most in the past 30 years.