Twitter had a meltdown over the crazy finish to Game 5 of the 2020 NBA Finals.
The 2020 NBA Finals heard you say they were boring, and they responded with a Game 5 for the ages.
As the Miami Heat faced elimination Friday night, trailing 3-1 in the championship series, Jimmy Butler and Duncan Robinson brought their A-game to overcome the absence of Goran Dragic, a shaky Bam Adebayo and an absolute nuclear performance from LeBron James.
The Los Angeles Lakers were unable to close the Heat out and win the franchise’s 17th championship, but it was an unforgettable battle that made up for a mostly uninteresting series to this point.
Finishing with 35 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and 5 steals, Butler shot 11-for-19 from the field and finished with his second 30-point triple-double of the Finals. LeBron, meanwhile, was absolutely unstoppable, kicking it into high gear with 40 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists on 15-of-21 shooting.
The two superstars traded haymakers in the closing minutes, getting to the basket and drawing contact for easy put-backs or getting to the foul line for quick freebies. When Danny Green missed a wide-open 3-pointer in the waning seconds, and Markieff Morris threw a horrible pass out of bounds on the ensuing offensive rebound, NBA Twitter was in absolute shambles.
Twitter provided some great reactions to that Game 5 finish in the NBA Finals
We’ve got to start with some mind-numbing stats to put Butler’s clutch performance in perspective, particularly with how he stepped up down the stretch:
Players with multiple triple-doubles in a Finals series in NBA history:
— StatMuse (@statmuse) October 10, 2020
- Wilt Chamberlain
- Magic Johnson
- Larry Bird
- LeBron James
- Draymond Green
- Jimmy Butler
(Submitted by @Hoop_statistics) pic.twitter.com/QJZ8GkttMx
The Lakers were outscored 15-9 in clutch-time of Game 5.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 10, 2020
Jimmy Butler accounted for more points (11) in clutch-time than the Lakers by himself.
This was the 2nd time all season that LeBron James and Anthony Davis combined for 60+ points and the Lakers lost. pic.twitter.com/SeKktJ9hxZ
On a night where Butler and LeBron went back and forth down the stretch, the duel between these two leading Finals MVP candidates was not lost on anyone:
https://twitter.com/JoshEberley/status/1314773105219231746?s=20
Jimmy Butler just got the best of LeBron James in a Finals game.
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) October 10, 2020
Again.
Butler has lifted his game to a totally different place on the biggest stage of all.
ZERO PERCENT FEAR IN LEBRON
— Shea Serrano (@SheaSerrano) October 10, 2020
ZERO PERCENT FEAR IN JIMMY
IT’S A GODDAMN AXE FIGHT
Markieff Morris quickly stole the Twitter spotlight with a terrible pass. (Somewhere, Danny Green is breathing a sigh of relief)
Considering that his awful defense on the prior possession helped Miami retake the lead, it was pretty clear the Lakers made a mistake relying on Keef too much down the stretch.
Markieff Morris with the game on the line pic.twitter.com/pvcBvkNKMk
— Mike Vigil (@protectedpick) October 10, 2020
Markieff Morris really had LeBron WIDE OPEN then threw it out of bounds. AWFUL pass
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) October 10, 2020
Markieff Morrisn't
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) October 10, 2020
Phoenix Suns fans certainly didn’t hesitate to jump in with the heavy sarcasm font:
I know I speak for all Suns fans when I say I really hoped that Markieff Morris would hit a championship clinching shot to help the Los Angeles Lakers win it all.
— Scott Howard (@ScottHoward42) October 10, 2020
After such a critical late-game gaffe rendered another tremendous LeBron performance irrelevant, it was hard not to compare Keef’s mistake to the one J.R. Smith made in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals:
JR Smith watching Markieff Morris ruin an all-time great LeBron performance in the Finals pic.twitter.com/wcADjzBGu6
— sreekar (@sreekyshooter) October 10, 2020
— The Lead (@TheLeadSM) October 10, 2020
Overall, these tweets attempted to sum up the wild finish to Game 5…
Jimmy Butler was amazing.
— nick wright (@getnickwright) October 10, 2020
Kief missed a wide open LeBron to win the title.
Lakers wasted an all time LeBron game.
My “Lakers Gentlemen’s Sweep the Playoffs” prediction from 6 weeks ago is dead.
Oh well.
LeBron will take care of it in Game 6.
LeBron went nuclear and the Heat survived.
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) October 10, 2020
…But in all honesty, Magic Johnson probably did it best:
Wow.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) October 10, 2020
Here’s to a Game 6 that’s hopefully just as exciting!