Los Angeles Lakers two wins away from another NBA Championship

The Los Angeles Lakers won Game 2 of the NBA Finals 124-114 on Friday night to take a 2-0 lead in the series. The Miami Heat is still playing without two key players, Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo.

Goran Dragic is out due to a foot injury, and Bam Adebayo injured his shoulder in Game 1. Both players are recovering but are still questionable for Game 3.

The lack of key players in the paint led to Anthony Davis dominating the area with 32 points and 14 rebounds. Superstar LeBron James almost posted a triple-double with 33 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists.

Heat swingman Jimmy Butler doing everything he could with 25 points, eight rebounds, and 13 assists helped keep it interesting, but it wasn't even close.

According to NBA.com, even if the Heat is playing zone defence to prevent the two Lakers superstars from dominating the paint, the strategy is not enough to overcome the discrepancy in talent. The Lakers did end up taking a lot of 3-pointers and missing them, going for 9-17. But they shot a bone-crushing 17-20 in short-range in the first half of the game, totally ignoring the zone defence.

In the post-game interview, Jimmy Butler said it's not over, and it's time for the Heat to "do something special." While having an optimistic outlook on the series is good, historically, only four out of 31 teams in NBA history have achieved such a come-from-behind feat.

Winning the series down 0-2 is already a tall order, and doing it without two key players will undoubtedly make history, especially against LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But history is on Miami's side. They had previously defeated the Dallas Mavericks in 2006 after being down 0-2.

But only Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra was in the 2006 Heat roster who is still in a key position in the present team. He was one of Pat Riley's assistant coaches, and they were led by Dwayne Wade and the ageing Shaquille O'Neal.

Apart from Wade and O'Neal, the 2006 Heat team was also filled with hardcore veterans such as Gary Payton, Alonzo Mourning, James Posey, Antoine Walker, and Jason Williams.