After a rough loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Los Angeles Lakers looked to get back on track on Wednesday night when they continued their road trip against the Miami Heat.
The Lakers were without starting point guard Austin Reaves for the third straight game while the Heat welcomed Jimmy Butler back to their lineup. As a result, the Heat were able to come out on top with an easy 134-93 win as the Lakers’ recent struggles continued. L.A. has had a few bad losses in recent weeks, but this was easily the worst of the bunch.
LeBron James looked happy to be back home in Miami early as he scored the first six points of the game for the Lakers. Turnovers and defensive rebounds continued to be issues for L.A. though, allowing the Heat to jump out to an 11-6 lead.
A timeout by the Lakers didn’t change much as the Heat then got back-to-back 3-pointers to take their first double digit lead before D’Angelo Russell ended the drought with a triple of his own.
Everything was going right for the Heat as they quickly built their lead to 14. The Lakers finally responded with a 7-0 run with Rui Hachimura scoring five of those points.
The Lakers’ struggles on the defensive glass hurt them though as it led to open 3s by the Heat, who capitalized and led 34-26 at the end of the first.
Miami’s target practice continued into the second quarter as they quickly got their lead up to 15 by making open triples. James went into attack mode from there though to keep the game from getting out of reach, but the Heat responded with another run.
The end of the half wasn’t any better for the Lakers as the same issues continued and they wound up going into the locker room trailing 69-52.
If the Lakers were gonna make any sort of run then things need to change to begin the third quarter. Unfortunately it was a lot of the same as they looked disinterested defensively while the Heat stayed hot from deep.
With the deficit back at 21, James connected from deep, his first made triple in his last 20 attempts. He was basically the lone bright spot for L.A. as Miami continued pouring it on with Tyler Herro making 3 after 3.
The Lakers’ lack of energy was glaring with the Heat building their lead to 30 in the third quarter, effectively putting the game out of reach. They led 105-72 at the end of the third and were able to close it out without any issues.
To cap off the Heat’s night, former Laker Thomas Bryant hit a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter to help set a franchise record for most triples in a game.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers will finish out their road trip on Friday against the Atlanta Hawks before returning home and hosting the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.
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