LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The confetti guns came out with 46.7 seconds left, not because anybody thought the Finals was over, but because everybody knew they might be over soon. LeBron James and Jimmy Butler had gone back and forth, one of the great players in history against a guy who expects to beat him, in the best game of the series, one of the best games you could ask to see, and they weren’t done yet.
James would finish Game 5 with 40 points for the Lakers, Butler with 35 for the Heat, and these were the most impressive kind of points, because they were both efficient and hard-earned.