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Lakers News: Miami's All-Stars, Three-Point Shooting Overpower Lakers

Heat beat L.A. 112-98.

Alex Kirschenbaum

In this story:

Despite yet another big night from ageless All-Star LeBron James, your Los Angeles Lakers sans Anthony Davis couldn't make it a clean Florida sweep tonight, in the second game of a back-to-back, falling to Jimmy Butler's Miami Heat 112-98.

The Heat got off to a strong start, and wound up leading Los Angeles 61-52 at the halftime break. Both teams shot fairly well in the first two frame, but the Heat (24-of-51) got a lot more shooting opportunities than L.A. (19-of-39). LeBron James led all Lakers with 15 points at the break.

Here's your requisite "Oh my god how is LeBron still doing these fast break dunks in year 20?" highlight:

The Lakers' third-quarter scoring problems persisted again tonight, as Miami outscored the team 34-26 in the third frame.

Bam Adebayo was in particularly fine form, with a series of athletic plays around the rack:

Etc.:

His fellow All-Star Jimmy Butler, Miami's top player, was his team's top scorer:

Miami's three-point shooting proved huge tonight. 6'5" "starting power forward" Caleb Martin in particular was a problem:

At one point, the team led by as much as 22 points in the quarter. They closed the period up 17, 95-78, heading into the fourth.

Los Angeles opened up the fourth quarter on a 14-7 run to get the game within 10, 102-92. The game got as close as a seven-point Heat edge before some clutch makes from Butler and Tyler Herro helped the club build back a double-digit lead for good. The Lakers been ineffective defensively on the wing this season, in part because they're just too darn small (note how 6'3" starting point guard Dennis Schröder is actually assigned to 6'7" Jimmy Butler at the top of the arc here).

The Heat managed to ultimately muzzle L.A., 112-98. With the win, Miami has moved over a .500 record for only the second time thus far in the 2022-23 season, with an 18-17 record. The Lakers have fallen to a 14-21 record this year, and a 2-5 record sans Anthony Davis overall.

LeBron James finished with 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting (including a redemptive 2-of-5 from deep after going 0-of-7 last night in that department), nine rebounds, and six assists (against six turnovers, unfortunately). Six Lakers overall finished in double figures. Current starting center Thomas Bryant (11 points, eight rebounds) and key reserve Russell Westbrook (15 points, eight assists) were the two Lakers to come closest to achieving double-doubles.

For the Heat, All-Star center Bam Adebayo had a commanding 23-point, 14-rebound double-double, All-Star small forward Jimmy Butler had a team-most 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting, and starting shooting guard Tyler Herro finished with 18 points and nine dimes.

The Lakers have two more games left on their road trip: against the Atlanta Hawks Friday and the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday. Here's hoping they can actually close out both of those contests.

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Alex Kirschenbaum
ALEX KIRSCHENBAUM

Basketball is Alex's favorite sport, he likes the way they dribble up and down the court.

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