Lakers beat Miami Heat to clinch title

Ninety-three days ago, LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers arrived in Orlando for the NBA restart. Twenty-one other teams descended on Disney World, but the Lakers were among the few whose dreams of leaving with a championship were realistic. On Sunday, they realized those dreams in devastating fashion, overwhelming the Miami Heat in a 106-93 victory that was much more of a rout than the final score indicates.

The Los Angeles Lakers dominated the Miami Heat 106-93 on Sunday to win a record-equalling 17th NBA championship but their first in a decade.

Superstar LeBron James fueled the Lakers with a triple-double of 28 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, capturing his fourth NBA title with a third different team.

Anthony Davis added 19 points and 15 rebounds as the Lakers completed a four-games-to-two triumph in the best-of-seven NBA Finals more than eight months after the death in a helicopter crash of team legend Kobe Bryant — who led the Lakers to their last title in 2010.

The Lakers out-hustled, out-muscled and out-played the Heat, making sure it wouldn’t come down to any last-gasp effort as it did when they were denied in game five on Friday.

Los Angeles had blown it open by halftime, their 36 second-quarter points equalling the Heat’s entire first half total as the Lakers took a 64-36 lead into the break.

Four Lakers players had scored in double-figures by halftime.

Rajon Rondo was a perfect six-for-six from the floor in the first half as the Lakers built the second-largest halftime lead in NBA Finals history.

Rondo, who won a title with the Celtics in 2008, scored 19 points off the bench. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 17 and Danny Green scored 11.

The Lakers’ 17 titles pulled them level with the Boston Celtics for the most all-time.