Takeaways from win over Lakers, as Heat moves into first place in East and Butler sets record
The Miami Heat has been one of the NBA’s best teams and the Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the NBA’s most disappointing teams so far this season.
Despite a late comeback effort by the Lakers, Sunday’s matchup between the two teams did little to change that narrative. The Heat (30-17) came away with a 113-107 win over the Lakers (23-24) to open a four-game homestand at FTX Arena.
The victory paired with losses by the Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls on Sunday night pushed the Heat into sole possession of first place in Eastern Conference. Miami, which has won 16 of its past 22 games, improved to 16-5 at home this season.
The Heat looked to be on its way to a blowout victory, despite missing starting point guard Kyle Lowry (personal reasons) and sixth man Tyler Herro (health and safety protocols). Miami’s lead ballooned to as many as 26 points and Los Angeles’ final lead came when it pulled ahead 4-2 early in the first quarter.
But the Lakers used a huge 32-13 fourth-quarter run to cut a 23-point lead all the way down to four with 1:07 to play. That’s the closest Los Angeles would get, as Caleb Martin stole a Talen Horton-Tucker pass and turned it into a transition layup for the final points of the game to put Miami ahead by six with 4.2 seconds left.
“If you can always guarantee this where we would be fully in control and then have to feel stress and manage things in the fourth quarter, but we would still come out with a win every time,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I would take that a lot because I think those are important experiences to go through together.”
Jimmy Butler led the way for the Heat with his third triple-double of the season. He finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists.
That performance was the catalyst behind the Heat’s strong offensive showing, which included 113 points on 49.4 percent shooting from the field, 15-of-33 (45.5 percent) shooting on threes and 18-of-20 (90 percent) shooting from the foul line.
Duncan Robinson scored a team-high 25 points with the help of 6-of-11 shooting on threes for the Heat. Bam Adebayo finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
The Lakers finished with 40 paint points, but shot just 11 of 40 (27.5 percent) from three-point range. The Heat is 8-4 this season when its opponent shoots worse than 30 percent on threes.
The Lakers’ duo of LeBron James (33 points, 11 rebounds and four assists) and Russell Westbrook (24 points, nine rebounds and nine assist) combined for 57 points on 56.8 percent shooting. Los Angeles was without superstar Anthony Davis (sprained MCL in left knee) for the 17th consecutive game.
The Heat now enters a two-day break before continuing its homestand on Wednesday against the New York Knicks.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s win over the Lakers:
The driving force behind the Heat’s huge lead that proved to be too much for the Lakers to overcome? One of its best first-half offensive performances of the season.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel complimented the Heat’s “great offensive system” prior to Sunday’s contest. The Lakers then got to experience the Heat’s offense up close.
It didn’t disappoint in the first half.
The Heat’s offense was dominant at the start with 39 points on 16-of-24 (66.7 percent) shooting from the field and 6-of-10 (60 percent) shooting on threes in the opening quarter. Miami did that while dishing out 14 assists to only one turnover.
The 39 points tied for the third-most the Heat has scored in a first quarter this season. The 14 assists are the most the Heat has recorded in any quarter this season.
The Heat’s efficient offense continued in the second quarter, when it totaled 30 points on 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) shooting from the field and 5-of-6 (83.3 percent) shooting on threes.
Miami entered halftime with 69 points on 57.8 percent shooting from the field and 11-of-16 (68.8 percent) shooting on threes, 21 assists and just six turnovers. Each of the 69 first-half points were either scored in the paint (30 paint points), from three-point range (33 points on threes) or the foul line (six points on free throws).
The Heat posted an offensive rating of 143.8 points scored per 100 possessions in the first half on Sunday, which is its third-best first-half offensive rating of the season.
“It was spectacular, just in terms of no holds, making the right reads, keeping it pretty simple,” Spoelstra said of the Heat’s ball movement in the first half. “... In the first half, we were just working a lot of different aspects of our menu and the ball was just finding the open guy on a lot of different possessions. When we’re playing like that and moving the ball and not really caring who scores and not holding the ball and letting it stick, there’s some pretty good things that can happen offensively for us.”
The results weren’t as good in the second half, as the Heat totaled just 44 points on 38.9 percent shooting from the field and 4-of-17 (23.5 percent) shooting on threes to go with 10 assists and 10 turnovers in the final two quarters to allow the Lakers back in the game.
Butler picked up his second triple-double in less than a week and broke LeBron James’ record in a game against LeBron James.
After recording a triple-double in Monday’s win over the Toronto Raptors, Butler added another triple-double to his résumé on Sunday.
Only counting regular-season games, it’s the 14th triple-double of Butler’s NBA career and his 10th triple-double as a member of the Heat. Butler’s 10 triple-doubles in a Heat uniform sets a new regular-season team record, surpassing James’ nine triple-doubles with the Heat for the most in franchise history.
“I think it’s a blessing,” Butler said of the record. “Any time you get in the same sentence with Hall of Famers like D. Wade and LeBron and what they’ve done for this organization and for this city, it says a lot.”
Butler set the tone for another triple-double early, as he produced four points, five rebounds and seven assists in the first quarter. He generated his 10th assist with 4:46 left in the second quarter.
In comparison, the Lakers had just 10 assists as a team in the first half.
Butler clinched Sunday’s triple-double when he grabbed his 10th rebound with 6:41 left in the fourth quarter.
“Any time you’re playing this game throughout your career, there are certain guys that stick out, that you know when you step on the floor, it’s going to be maximum effort every possession and that’s from both sides,” James said of Butler following Sunday’s game. “You’re gonna win some and you’re gonna lose some, but the respect after the game is always going to be there. It was fun and exciting to be in that matchup.”
The Heat is 8-2 in Butler’s 10 triple-double games in the regular season.
“It just shows you his skill set that he’s able to impact the game in so many different ways,” Spoelstra said of Butler’s triple-doubles. “He has really developed into a great playmaker for us. He can set up guys for easy baskets in a myriad of ways, whether it’s off the drive, in the post, in the mid-post, at the elbows. It’s just a really great luxury for us.”
After a strong fourth quarter in Friday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks, Robinson picked up right where he left off.
Robinson, who totaled 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting on threes during the Heat’s fourth-quarter comeback on Friday, was sharp again on Sunday.
With 25 points on 6-of-11 shooting from three-point range against the Lakers, he has made 10 of his last 16 threes going back to Friday’s fourth quarter.
Robinson is shooting 35.8 percent on threes this season. That’s not up to the all-world standards Robinson set for himself after he made an incredible 44.6 percent of his threes in 2019-20 and 40.8 percent of his threes in 2020-21.
But Robinson’s three-point percentage has ticked up in recent weeks. Has has shot 38.9 percent from three-point range since the start of December.
With Lowry and Herro still out, Gabe Vincent continued to impress as the Heat’s starting point guard.
Lowry missed his fourth straight game because of personal reasons and Herro missed his third straight game because of health and safety protocols.
That means Vincent made his fourth straight start at point guard in Lowry’s place.
Vincent, 25, was again effective in the role with 11 points and six assists on Sunday.
Vincent, who arrived to the Heat in January 2020 as a shooting guard with a score-first mentality, has dished out 22 assists and committed just eight turnovers in the last three games.
With Lowry still out because of personal reasons, Vincent’s growth as a point guard is helping the Heat at the moment.
As for Herro, he could be back for Wednesday’s game against the Knicks if he’s able to meet the requirements to exit protocols. Herro’s NBA-required five-day quarantine runs through Monday.
The Heat was also without Markieff Morris (return to competition reconditioning), KZ Okpala (wrist sprain) and Victor Oladipo (knee injury recovery).
Need a reminder of how long it has been since James’ Heat days? Spoelstra said Sunday marked the first time his two sons have ever watch James play in person.
Spoelstra’s two sons, 3-year-old Santiago and 2-year-old Dante, were in attendance for the Heat’s win over the Lakers at FTX Arena. But they were already familiar with James before Sunday’s game because of his role in Space Jam 2.
“The only thing that matters in our family right now is he’s our entertainment,” Spoelstra said when asked about James. “Probably a couple nights a week for two little boys. So we put on Space Jam. My sons will actually see him in person for the first time. I was also aware of the reviews of the movie and everything, but our family enjoys the movie and I know our kids love it. He’s creating great joy for the Spo Bros.”
This summer marks the eight-year anniversary of James’ departure from Miami. James spent four seasons and won two championships with the Heat before leaving as a free agent in 2014 to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
With Sunday’s result, James now holds a 2-5 record in games against the Heat in Miami since he left the organization in 2014.
This story was originally published January 23, 2022 at 8:51 PM.
