LeBron James insists there is light at the end of the tunnel for the Los Angeles Lakers despite falling 2-0 down to the top-seeded Denver Nuggets.
The Lakers were beaten 108-103 in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, even though they were leading by 11 points in the third quarter and started the fourth still up by three.
Jamal Murray powered a decisive 15-1 Denver run in the fourth quarter, finishing with 37 points, while Nikola Jokic (23-17-12) made it five triple-doubles in the space of six games.
James, meanwhile, was unable to connect with any of his six three-point attempts in a frustrating night that saw him finish with 22 points.
But the 38-year-old did have 10 assists, nine rebounds and four steals and feels there is enough room for optimism ahead of Game 3 on home court, where the Lakers have won every game this postseason.
"I think we improved from Game 1 to Game 2," James said, per ESPN.
"And if we can do the same thing from Game 2 to Game 3, we put ourselves in a position to win.
"This is not the NCAA tournament. It's the first to four wins. Until a team beats you four times, then you always have an opportunity to come out of it. That is the confidence we need to have.
"We can't go into any postseason game with comfort just because you either haven't lost at home or you're going back home. We have still got to play with the same desperation as we did [in Game 2].
"We came out with an L. The three-point line is what killed us in the fourth.
"[Murray] made shots at the end of the clock. We guard for 24 seconds and he made two big-time shots, one over [Anthony Davis] and one over me.
"He had his 3-point shot going in the fourth. It’s no surprise to me, he’s done it before. Sometimes it’s a never-miss league."
James said what he called "a little ankle injury" would not stop him suiting up for Game 3 on Saturday.
Austin Reaves tied James for a team-high 22 points and had no concerns about his star teammate’s shooting woes from deep.
"I mean, he can shoot all he wants – it's LeBron James," said Reaves. "I don't think anybody bats an eye when he shoots a shot or questions his shot.
"We want him taking whatever he feels comfortable with, just because he's a winning basketball player for his whole career and that's all he wants to do, he wants to win."
Coach Darvin Ham had similar views on James' long-range shooting after Thursday's loss.
Ham said: "He [James] was open, they're playing off of him. He's a highly capable three-point shooter, he let it fly.
"Proud of our guys, they bounced back and we addressed a lot of the things that we said we were going to try to do better.
"Still got to be better in transition D. But overall the energy was there, the effort was there, the urgency was there, we just caught a bad stretch."
The Lakers have now lost consecutive games for the first time since the middle of March. After beating the odds to make the playoffs following a woeful start to the regular season, Ham was quick to remind observers the Lakers should not be counted out.
"I've been down 2-10, 0-5," Ham said. "You're never as good as they say you are and you're never as bad as they say you are.
"You've just got to treat each day like its own entity. Each day, each game an opportunity to go out and get better. Never get too high and never get too low."
Davis also vowed to improve in Game 3. He had 14 rebounds and four blocks but was restricted to 18 points on 4-of-15 shooting after scoring 40 points in Game 1.
The eight-time All-Star said: "I'm going to continue to shoot those shots and I got to be better, more efficient, help the team win. So, I'll be better."
Tatum 'a shell' after injury as Williams says Celtics 'got punked'
Jayson Tatum lamented an untimely injury while Grant Williams bluntly said the Boston Celtics "got punked" after their defeat to the Miami Heat.
The Celtics fell short of becoming the first team in NBA history to win a seven-game series after going 3-0 down, as the Heat ended their season with a 103-84 win in Boston.
With talisman Tatum hampered by an ankle injury that he sustained on the first play of Monday's game, the Celtics could not get going as Jimmy Butler led the Heat to the NBA Finals.
Tatum finished with 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting, and was left to reflect on a missed opportunity.
"It was just frustrating that I was a shell of myself," Tatum said.
"It was tough to move. Just frustrating, with it happening on the first play."
Williams' assessment was a blunt one.
"We got punked," the Celtics forward told ESPN.
"We didn't play our game from start to finish. Defensively, we just lost it all, and then offensively we were scrambled and trying to do everything ourselves and just didn't go our way.
"You hate to have that be the end of your season, especially with the fight that we've shown. But shots didn't fall either, so that didn't help. It's just tough."
"[We were] missing shots, and then they're coming down and hitting shots," added Marcus Smart.
"It puts a lot of pressure on our defense to get stops. They were hitting some shots and they got in a rhythm and we weren't making ours."
'It wasn't scripted' – Spoelstra credits 'raw' relationship after Heat end Celtics' history bid
Erik Spoelstra hailed the "intimate" and "raw" relationships within the Miami Heat's roster after his team overcame the Boston Celtics to reach the NBA Finals.
The Heat had squandered a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals, but Game 7 went their way in emphatic fashion.
Jimmy Butler led Miami with 28 points as the Heat won 103-84, ending the Celtics' bid at history in the process.
Boston was aiming to become the first team to win a seven-game series after losing the opening three encounters, but it was not to be.
"It wasn't scripted," Spoelstra told reporters.
"When you have such an intimate relationship with a locker room and they have it with each other, the staff has it with them, they have it with the staff, sometimes it's just whatever's raw, whatever's real at that time.
"Professional sports is just kind of a reflection sometimes of life, that things don't always go your way.
"The inevitable setbacks happen and it's how you deal with that collectively. There's a lot of different ways that it can go. It can sap your spirit. It can take a team down for whatever reason.
"With this group, it's steeled us and made us closer and made us tougher.
"These are lessons that hopefully we can pass along to our children, that you can develop this fortitude.
"Sometimes you have to suffer for the things that you want. Game 6, the only thing that we can do is sometimes you have to laugh at the things that make you cry."
The Heat are only the second No. 8 seed in NBA history to make the Finals, after the 1999 New York Knicks.
Butler was named the Eastern Conference finals MVP, and has full confidence the Heat can go all the way against the Denver Nuggets.
"I just know why coach Pat [Riley] and coach Spoelstra wanted me to be here," Butler said. "That's to compete at a high level and to win championships.
"I know that the group that they put around me at all times is going to give me an opportunity to do so.
"I know the work that we all put into it, so I know what we're capable of. Nobody is satisfied. We haven't done anything. We don't play just to win the Eastern Conference; we play to win the whole thing."
Spoelstra reserved special praise for the Heat's talisman.
"There's no way to quantify the confidence that he can instil in everybody. Jimmy has never had to apologise," Spoelstra said of Butler.
"I don't want him to ever apologise for who he is and how he approaches competition. It's intense. It's not for everybody, and we're not for everybody.
"That's why we think it's like an incredible marriage. We never judge him on that. He doesn't judge us for how crazy we get. It's the same language. But the confidence level that he can create for everybody on the roster is incredible.
"He's gnarly, but he knows how to have a soft touch to give somebody some confidence at the right time. That's the special gift that he has."
Heat advance to NBA Finals, foil Celtics' bid at history
Jimmy Butler backed up his bold guarantee and the Miami Heat bounced back to prevent the Boston Celtics from making history.
Butler led all players with 28 points as the Heat advanced to the NBA Finals for the second time in four years with a 103-84 rout of the Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night.
Miami went ahead late in the first quarter and never looked back en route to joining the 1999 New York Knicks as the only No. 8 seeds in a conference to reach the NBA Finals. The Heat will meet the Western Conference champion Nuggets with Game 1 to be held Thursday in Denver.
The Heat also denied Boston from becoming the first team in league history to win a seven-game series after losing the first three contests, as well as make Butler's claim after Game 5 that Miami would win the series a reality.
Boston had forced Monday's winner-take-all matchup with a dramatic Game 6 victory in Miami on Saturday, with Derrick White's buzzer-beating tip-in giving the Celtics a 104-103 win and extending the series.
The Celtics could never muster a comeback in Game 7, however, as Miami built a 27-15 lead early in the second quarter and took a 52-41 advantage into half-time.
Boston got the deficit to within seven late in the third quarter before Caleb Martin scored the first eight points of a 12-2 Heat run that put Miami up 83-66 with 10 minutes remaining.
Martin finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds for Miami, which went 14 of 28 from 3-point range while the Celtics shot just 21.4 per cent from beyond the arc. Butler was named the Eastern Conference Finals MVP and received the Larry Bird Trophy, named in honour of the former Celtics great.
Jaylen Brown led Boston with 19 points but went 8 of 23 from the field, while All-Star Jayson Tatum was held to 14 points after playing through a sore ankle he injured early in the contest.
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