Loser: Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic
Game 1 of the Finals was an absolute nightmare for Miami. First Goran Dragic goes down with a plantar fascia injury and then Bam Adebayo has a neck/shoulder injury that rules him out for part of the series.
If both of those players are fully healthy, maybe this series looks a lot different. But then again, if Anthony Davis doesn’t injure himself (it seemed like he fell and grabbed a body part once a game), the Lakers might finish the series in five games, not six.
Nevertheless, Bam returned to play after the team announced he was healthy enough and Dragic returned in Game 6 with what looked like a robotic leg with all the padding. It gave off huge late-career Tim Duncan vibes when he played with a metal brace over his knee.
You can never blame a player for not playing up to their maximum through an injury (and I’m not), but Bam wasn’t himself in this series and if any big man is to stand a chance against the great defender that AD is, they at least need to be healthy.
On a positive note, this is hardly Bam’s last season in the league (and Goran for that matter) and ESPN’s Rachel Nichols posted this video of Bam walking around the Disney bubble, something he did every night in his time there. He walked past the Lakers championship celebrations, saying that it’s “motivating” to see the other team party it up.
So yes, these two are losers for this series. The next Finals? Let’s see.