Tonight the Los Angeles Lakers welcome the Miami Heat to town. In their lone trip to Miami on Dec. 22, the Lakers let a sizable lead get away and eventually lost 115-107. Check out our game recap:
1st Quarter
The Lakers started the game with their usual lineup of D’Angelo Russell, Nick Young, Luol Deng, Julius Randle, and Timofey Mozgov. The Heat started the game with Goran Dragic, Josh Richardson, Luke Babbit, Rodney McGruder, and Willie Reed.
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The Lakers jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead behind two baskets by Randle, which lead to very quick Miami timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Dragic missed a wide-open layup but was bailed out by a Willie Reed putback. On the ensuing Lakers possession, Randle nearly turned the ball over but recovered it and bullied his way into the lane for his third basket of the night.
A Lakers turnover led the Heat’s Tyler Johnson to find an open Dragic for a corner three-pointer to cut their deficit to seven points. After missed dunk attempt by Mozgov, James Johnson drilled another Heat three-pointer to force Luke Walton to call his first timeout.
Deng made a nice layup using his off-hand when he dribbled his way past his defender for his first basket of the night. After a missed basket by the Lakers, Wayne Ellington found Reed for an alley-oop to bring the Heat within two points but was answered by a sweet looking Brandon Ingram fadeaway.
Ingram used his size to outback his own miss that extended the Lakers lead to eight points, but before the quarter ended, Thomas Robinson threw down a cutback dunk off of a Lou Williams missed three-point attempt.
The Lakers lead at the end of the first quarter, 32-23.
2nd Quarter
After a pair of Miami free throws began the quarter, Ingram made a nice pass to Jordan Clarkson toward the basket for an alley-oop. As the Heat missed several scoring opportunities on the next possession, Williams found a diving Tarik Black for a slam-dunk to put the Lakers back up 10.
Dragic took advantage of miscommunication by the Lakers defensively when he drove to the basket nearly unguarded, but Williams responded with a layup of his own on the next trip down the court. Coming out of a timeout, the Heat scored on three straight possessions highlighted by a Johnson dunk over Lou Williams.
The Heat took the lead on a block by Johnson on Clarkson that resulted in a layup for Dragic to force a Lakers timeout. Out of the timeout, Randle connected on a midrange jumper for his eighth point of the night.
With less than five minutes remaining in the quarter, the Lakers starters were put back in the game. Young and Deng hit consecutive three-pointers to give momentum back to the Lakers. Another block by Miami led to Reed getting fouled under the basket, but was unable to make either free throws.
Good effort by Young and Randle led to a couple of offensive rebounds until Russell eventually got fouled and made one of two free throws. As the quarter coming to close, Ingram went coast-to-coast for a layup between two Heat defenders for his third basket of the night.
The Lakers lead at the end of the second quarter, 58-56.
3rd Quarter
The Lakers started the quarter with a quick 7-0 run to regain momentum. After trading baskets with the Heat, Deng hit a baseline jumper as the shot clock expired to take a six-point lead. As the Heat walked their way back defensively after a Johnson miss, Russell found Black guarded by a much smaller defender for an easy basket.
The game was halted for a few minutes when a near fight broke out between Clarkson and Dragic leading players from both teams separating the two. After looking at video, the referees determined that both Clarkson and Dragic be ejected from the game.
As play resumed, Black was fouled by James Johnson and made both of his free throws to put Los Angeles back up 10, but Johnson quickly responded with a three-pointer on the ensuing possession. Williams knocked down his first three-pointer of the game and Russell converted a difficult and-one to give the Lakers some breathing room.
As the quarter came to a close, Williams connected on a straightaway jumper to give the Lakers a 90-79 lead heading into the final quarter.
4th Quarter
McGruder started the quarter by drilling a three-pointer for the Heat. After Dion Waiters made a midrange jumper, Ingram dribbled his way toward the basket for an and-one. As both teams traded baskets, Waiters once again scored on an and-one of his own to bring the Heat within with points.
Deng continued his strong scoring night when he pumped faked a three-point attempt and ran toward the basket for a reverse layup, forcing a Heat timeout.
Williams started to get hot as he knocked down a few jumpers to up his point to 16 points giving the Lakers a 19-point lead with just a little bit over seven minutes remaining.
Good ball movement by Los Angeles led to a wide-open Deng three-pointer to put the game out of reach. Williams had 16 points in the quarter to finish with 24 points overall. As a team, the Lakers had six players score in double figures and finish with 68 points in the paint.
The Lakers beat the Heat, 127-100.
