The Los Angeles Lakers have been playing their best basketball of the season as they opened up their six-game road trip with back-to-back victories over the Houston Rockets to give them a season-high seven straight victories.
As they looked to extend that streak, they faced a tough test on Thursday as they took on the Miami Heat in the second night of a back-to-back. Despite getting into Miami around 5 a.m., all of the Lakers’ key players were still able to suit up for this one. As a result, the Lakers continued to roll with a 134-126 victory over the Heat to improve to 45-25 on the year.
It predictably wasn’t a great start for the Lakers as they appeared to be playing with tired legs, allowing the Heat to jump out to a 9-0 lead. Marcus Smart eventually got the Lakers on the board with a pair of free throws, and then Luka Doncic helped settle them in with back-to-back 3-pointers.
Still though, the Lakers were clearly a step slow on defense in the first quarter as the Heat took a 42-29 lead into the second.
LeBron James picked up where he left off in the Lakers’ last game as he made his first five shots to get the Lakers back within single digits.
Miami continued to dominate inside though, led by Bam Adebayo, who crashed the boards and had a thunderous putback dunk. To their credit, the Lakers kept fighting and Doncic led an offensive surge to end the half, getting their deficit down to just six at 65-59.
Doncic came out on fire to begin the third quarter, coming up with a steal and hitting back-to-back triples. That gave him 226 made 3-pointers on the season, passing D’Angelo Russell for the most in franchise history.
Meanwhile, James stayed perfect from the field while Austin Reaves hit a 3 of his own and the Lakers not only took the lead, but started to build it up all the way to double digits after beginning the second half on a 31-12 run, including 12 straight points.
Doncic continued his huge quarter as the Heat had no answer for him, scoring 19 points and giving the Lakers a 97-88 lead going into the fourth.
Adebayo was aggressive offensively early in the final quarter to get his team back in it. Once Doncic returned though, he picked up where he left off as he and Reaves were getting to the free throw line at will to keep the Lakers in front.
To close it out, it was all Doncic and James as the former dropped a season-high 60 points, continuing to score at will, while the latter had a triple-double with 19 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. The Lakers had no issues finishing out their eighth straight win.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will close out their road trip with matchups against the Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers before returning home.
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