Lakers win game 1 of NBA Finals against Miami Heat

The Los Angeles Lakers are one step closer to the 2019-20 NBA Championship trophy after winning game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat on Thursday, 116-98. However, Lakers star LeBron James knows that they still have a lot of work ahead of them before they can lift the coveted trophy for this arduous season.

Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 34 points while King James added 25 points of his own to help the team claim the first game of the series. Meanwhile, it was Jimmy Butler who excelled for the Heat, contributing 23 points.

Even though it appeared to be a comfortable victory for the Lakers, the Heat actually enjoyed up to a 13-point lead in the first quarter. Aside from that, let's not forget that they are playing against a Miami Heat team that has diminished capacity at the moment. They had to finish the game without point guard Goran Dragic and forward Bam Adebayo, who both got injured in the course of Thursday's game.

Davis also admits that the Heat came out with guns blazing while the Lakers needed some time to get their bearings. They rallied just before the end of the second quarter and never looked back from there.

According to the BBC, James is aware that there is still a long road ahead. "The job is not done. We're not satisfied winning one game. You have to get a feel for how hard Miami plays. We got a sense for that. We got more work to do. It's that simple," he said.

Davis agrees with James. "If we want to win this series and become champions we've got to come out better from the start," he said.

It has been ten years since the Lakers made their last appearance in the NBA Finals. They have extra motivation this season following the tragic death of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant earlier this year.

Game two of the best-of-seven NBA Finals series will be played at the Disney-NBA bubble on Friday (02:00 BST on Saturday).