The Los Angeles Lakers walked over the Miami Heat 116-98 in Game one of the NBA Finals on Wednesday. In fact, the purple and gold once extended their lead to 32 points in the third quarter (87-55). Despite the efforts made by the Heat in Q4, they were fighting for nothing.

What's more painful than this loss to the Heat was the fact that their first choice for screenplay and best orchestrator, Goran Dragic, left the court early because of injury. He was diagnosed with a plantar tear, an injury that is very likely to remove him from the rest of the series. The other two key members of the Heat, Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, also suffered injuries. Adebayo did not come back after departure; Butler did. The team could not afford to lose them.

When the Lakers drained 11 triples at a 3-point rate of 64.71 percent in the first half, which by the way, both set new franchise records for game half, it's hard to imagine they could lose to anyone. The 3-pointer storm by the purple and gold convinced the Heat they could lose horribly if they put up their signature zone defense again.

When he did not have to worry about the great muscular wall inside, LeBron James found the game to grow even more comfortable. He could easily get either Tyler Herro or Duncan Robinson in front of him by calling a screen and then powered his way in, waiting for the Heat to make the difficult call: If they trapped him, James could easily find open teammate behind the 3-point line; if they didn't trap him, James could score easy two points above the defender's head.

However, the ridiculously incredible 3-point shooting in the first half was not the only reason behind the Lakers' big win in Game 1. The game's real turning point happened when the purple and gold decided to go small after trailing 23-10 in the first quarter.

Back then, the Heat stabbed through the Lakers' defense by charging against the rim and finding open shooter after drawing help defense from the corner. The Lakers invested too much attention chasing Dragic and Robinson after screening in the front and allowed others to drive in too easily.

After Jae Crowder made another open 3-pointer to extend the Heat's lead to 13 points, Vogel called a timeout and put Anthony Davis in the center position. The Lakers launched a 21-5 run in the following six minutes.

How did that happen? Thanks to the enormous defensive area Davis could cover, the purple and gold were able to switch against screen play. It became increasingly difficult for the Heat to approach the rim. When the help defense did not happen for the Lakers, open shots ceased to take place for the Heat.

The Lakers going small blocked the opponents' ball movement but created better spacing for their own offense. Davis' offensive range was as wide as his defensive coverage. He could launch an attack from anywhere inside the 3-point line. Moreover, when Howard was not on the floor, it's even easier for Davis to charge the Heat's paint via off-ball play. Davis scored game-high 34 points at 67-true-shooting-percentage (TS%) while delivering three blocks. Both his PER (31) and Box Plus/Minus (23) were the best on the court.

Davis again proved with his performance that he is the perfect center built for today's small-ball era.

By contrast, Adebayo, who was also seen as the center model for small-ball games, was totally outperformed by Davis on Wednesday. Before returning to the locker room because of a shoulder problem, Adebayo only had eight points, four rebounds, and no assistance. The Heat did not put him on Davis defensively because they wanted Adebayo to watch out for a bigger area. Nonetheless, neither did he deflect many of the Lakers' ball movements nor protected the rim well. 

In offense, Adebayo lost his magic too since the second quarter. Having missed all six middle jumpers, he only gave Davis more reasons to leave him open in the high post.
This was the second time for James' team to win Game 1 of all the 10 Finals he played. The 35-year-old missed one assist for a triple-double (25+13+9) and apparently did not turn on full power offensively on Wednesday night. The Heat must drag him out of that comfort first if they want to make a difference.