Takeaways from the Heat’s win over LeBron and Lakers to keep hopes alive for winning trip
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 96-94 win over the Los Angeles Lakers (22-9) in an NBA Finals rematch on Saturday night at Staples Center. The Heat (13-17) is now 3-3 on its seven-game trip:
The Heat has already wasted a lot of big leads this season, including one on its current trip. But Miami was able to hang on Saturday despite a few second-half pushes from the Lakers.
The Lakers opened the second half on a 14-4 run to rally from a 15-point first-half deficit and take a three-point lead with 7:44 left in the third quarter. It marked Los Angeles’ first lead since the opening minutes of the contest.
Miami answered with an 18-5 run to regain control and pull ahead by 10 with 1:20 remaining in the third quarter. Much of that surge came with Lakers superstar LeBron James on the bench, as Miami outscored Los Angeles 8-0 in the 2:52 he sat in the period.
The Heat led the rest of the way, but it got close again late in the game.
Los Angeles pulled within two points with 1:28 to play and that score held for the next minute. With the Heat leading by two points, Lakers guard Wesley Matthews missed a three-pointer with 16.6 seconds left that would have put Los Angeles ahead.
Heat forward Jimmy Butler was then intentionally fouled by the Lakers with 12.4 seconds left to preserve clock, and Butler hit both free throws to extend Miami’s lead to four.
The Lakers again cut the deficit to two points on a putback layup from Matthews with 8.4 seconds to play.
The Heat then avoided a late-game disaster after James stole an inbounds pass from Andre Iguodala with 5.4 seconds left, when Alex Caruso missed a jumper as the final buzzer sounded that would have sent the game into overtime.
“That’s an inbounds play we’ve made many times before,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I think that was just to make the head coach sweat some more. I think there was possibly some easier plays that we could’ve made. But we’ll get better with that. Thankfully, the turnover didn’t cost us.”
James finished with 19 points on 7-of-21 shooting from the field and 1-of-8 shooting on threes, nine rebounds and nine assists in 37 minutes, as Heat center Bam Adebayo served as his primary defender throughout the game. James called for screens, especially in the second half, to force switches and get Adebayo off of him.
Saturday marked the first time James has finished a game with fewer than 20 points in nearly a month, with the last time coming when he scored 17 points in a Jan. 23 win over the Chicago Bulls.
“You just try to put as many bodies in the paint and make him have to continue to make plays,” Spoelstra said of defending James. “But his computer is going to be processing whatever scheme, whatever matchup, whatever adjustment we made. So it’s not like you’re going to be able to get him rattled or off balance. You’re just going to have to make some plays. I thought we got some deflections, some key steals in that second half. That’s the best you can do, make some plays.”
With James’ inefficient performance, the Lakers shot just 39.3 percent from the field and 13 of 45 on threes as a team. Kyle Kuzma finished with a team-high 23 points.
After a strong offensive start, the Heat scored just 15 points on 4-of-17 shooting in the fourth quarter. But Miami’s defense stepped up to limit Los Angeles to 17 points on 7-of-22 shooting in the final period to help make up for its offense’s late-game struggles Saturday.
“I think our defensive mental toughness was better in this game to be able to get some stops when we weren’t able to necessarily knock down some shots in the fourth quarter,” Spoelstra said. “So that was different than those last couple losses where we had so much pressure on our offense to make shots. So it was a good step.”
In his matchup against James and the Lakers, Butler finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists in 34 minutes for the Heat. Butler shot 8 of 20 from the field and 8 of 10 from the foul line.
Adebayo finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
The Heat’s finish on Saturday was encouraging. Miami has already lost games in which it has led by 19 points (on Wednesday to the Golden State Warriors), 18 points and 13 points twice this season.
With Lakers superstar big man Anthony Davis out because of a right calf strain, the Heat went right at the NBA’s top-ranked defense and found success around the basket.
Miami’s offense didn’t turn in its most efficient performance of the season, finishing Saturday’s win with just 96 points on 42.4 percent shooting from the field and 8-of-28 shooting on threes.
The Lakers entered the contest with the NBA’s top defensive rating, allowing just 105.5 points per 100 possessions this season.
But without Davis to protect the rim, Miami plan was clearly to attack the interior of the Lakers’ defense. The Heat finished with 52 paint points with the help of 24-of-33 shooting at the rim.
The Heat’s first quarter was especially impressive, scoring 36 points on 60 percent shooting and 4-of-7 shooting on threes. Miami scored 20 paint points on 10-of-15 shooting and only committed two turnovers in the opening period.
The Heat has averaged 62 paint points in the last four games, up from its season average of 43.2 paint points per game.
Heat guard Kendrick Nunn continued his strong stretch with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the first quarter. He finished the win with a team-high 27 points while shooting 10 of 14 from the field and 5 of 6 on threes.
But the Heat’s win included an injury to a key player that will need to be monitored in the coming days.
Guard Tyler Herro, who recently moved into a bench role and has played as Miami’s sixth man on the trip, did not play in the second half Saturday because of a right hip contusion he sustained in the first half.
Herro, 21, moved around with a slight limp and looked to be in some discomfort in the second quarter, but he was able to remain in the game until he was called to the bench with 3:03 left in the first half.
“We’re used to it. Every game, there’s going to be something,” Spoelstra said when asked about Herro’s injury after Saturday’s game. “This is developing a level of toughness out of our group. It’s unfortunate. I don’t have any more information for you. It’s a hip pointer. We’ll evaluate him tomorrow.”
Two-way contract forward Max Strus played in Herro’s place in the second half. Strus finished with two points and missed all eight threes he attempted in 12 second-half minutes, but Spoelstra said he “gave us some good defensive minutes, gave us a spark and I liked his aggressiveness to keep on shooting those open looks.”
While it has only been about four months since the Heat and Lakers faced off in the NBA Finals in October, the two teams looked different in their first meeting since then because of a combination of offseason changes and injuries.
“In some ways it feels like it was two weeks ago when we met them in the Finals,” Spoelstra said. “In some ways it feels like it was two years ago. So much has happened since then for both teams.”
The Lakers swapped out Avery Bradley, Danny Green, Dwight Howard, JaVale McGee, Rajon Rondo, J.R. Smith and Dion Waiters for Marc Gasol, Montrezl Harrell, Wesley Matthews and Dennis Schroder this past offseason.
The Lakers were also without Davis on Saturday, as he’s expected to miss the next month because of a right calf strain. And Schroder was unavailable because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
Without Davis and Schroder, the Lakers were without two starters.
The Heat was missing Bradley (right calf strain), Goran Dragic (left ankle sprain), Meyers Leonard (season-ending left shoulder surgery) and Chris Silva (left hip flexor strain) on Saturday.
The Heat is just one win away from a winning road trip, and that’s somewhat surprising considering where things stood just a few days ago.
A victory over the struggling Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night would send the Heat home with a 4-3 record on its seven-game trip, which is tied for the longest road trip in franchise history.
This is a turn of events from a few days ago, when the Heat dropped its third straight game of the trip in an overtime loss to the shorthanded Warriors on Wednesday. Miami allowed a 15-point fourth-quarter lead to slip away in that loss.
But just a few days later, the Heat is on the verge of a winning trip.
This story was originally published February 20, 2021 at 11:09 PM.
