(Basketball news) The Los Angeles Lakers reached the Western Conference finals with an emphatic win over Golden State Warriors in game 6 as they beat them 122-101. For the Lakers, James had 30 points, nine rebounds and nine assists as Davis had 17 points and 20 rebounds while Austin Reaves scored 23 points as he scored a 54-footer shot from midcourt at the halftime buzzer, along with six assists and five rebounds.

For the Warriors, Curry scored 32 points while missing 10 of his 14 3-point attempts as Donte DiVincenzo had a playoff-high 16 points. Not a single former NBA player or basketball pandit gave Lakers a chance after their dismal 2-10 start but come the trade deadline, they have been playing Championship level basketball which has made the Lakers faithful believe again.

“It was great to be able to play one of our most efficient games, one of our best games of the series, and it started because of the defensive matchup we had,” James said. “We defended at a high level, and when we do that, we can be extremely good. I thought we were locked in for as close to 48 minutes as possible tonight.”

“It’s special to get that win to beat a team that’s so established and so good,” Reaves said. “I think the seeding things are just numbers. When you have guys like Bron and AD who have won championships, you always feel like you have a chance, especially with the roster that we have, the talent that we have.”

“It’s been a challenging year, to say the least, but we kept powering through,” first-year head coach Darvin Ham said. “Our vibes stayed positive, and finally our new pieces came together.”

“The better team won, and I can’t fault our players for the effort,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. “Because these guys are such competitors, it’s going to hurt. But that’s why we play: To compete against the best and see what we’ve got. Didn’t quite have enough, but it wasn’t for a lack of heart or effort.”

The Miami Heat became only the second team to finish in the 8th seed and reach the Eastern Conference finals as they beat the New York Knicks 96-92 in game 6. For the Heat, Jimmy Butler scored 24 points as Bam Adebayo added 23 while Max Strus scored 14 points and Kyle Lowry had 11 points and nine assists. For the Knicks, Jalen Brunson was spectacular 41 points on 14-for-22 shooting but his teammates combined for only 51 points as Julius Randle had 15 points and RJ Barrett scored 11 points on 1-for-10 shooting while Josh Hart also had 11 points.

The Miami Heat enter their second final in a row as they will be looking to avenge their loss against the Boston Celtics last year. If the Celtics win tomorrow we might get a repeat of last year’s dramatic Eastern Conference which Boston narrowly won 4-3.

“It is really frickin’ hard to get to the Eastern Conference finals,” Spoelstra said.

“It means we’re one step closer to our goal,” Butler said.

“Congratulations to the Heat, to the organization, to the coaching staff, Spo and Pat Riley and all their players,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “They played tough in this series and hats off to them. But I’m proud of our guys. There’s always disappointment in the end of the season and in the end, there’ll be one team standing. … Proud of the way this team worked all year.”

“It was a battle,” Lowry said. “A Tom Thibodeau-coached team, they’re always going to play hard. … This was a grind and we found a way.”

Also read: NBA: Nuggets seal the series against the Suns while Celtics level up the series against the 76ers