On its floor, the Heat starts strong and leads 12-4 after only four minutes of play, with four different markers. The Lakers are in the hard entry, and only Russell Westbrook (7 points) finds solutions. After eight minutes played, Miami already leads by 18 points. Frank Vogel manages to put out the fire with the formula LeBron James + Lakers substitutes, but Miami still completes the quarter calmly (39-25).
The gap increases to +20 after four minutes have elapsed in the second quarter. The Lakers are in agony on offense and suffer from their lack of size in defense since it is LeBron James who passes most of the defensive possessions at the pivot position. Jimmy Butler, author of 10 assists in the first time, mercilessly dissects the defense of the “Purple & Gold” while Duncan Robinson catches fire behind the arc (4/6 in the first half). The Angelinos revived at the end of the quarter thanks to the contributions of “King James” (18 points) and Carmelo Anthony / Malik Monk (14 points in total), but were still 17 points behind at halftime (69 -52).
+23 nine minutes from the end…
After the break, the Heat, although clumsy (7/18), maintains its mattress quite calmly from 17 to 20 points in advance thanks in particular to a Jimmy Butler who rushes all must towards the triple-double (18 points, 8 rebounds and 12 assists with two minutes remaining in the third quarter). The Lakers look messy and are absolutely harmless on offense when the ball is in the hands of anyone other than LeBron James or Russell Westbrook.
Certainly rested a little quickly on their laurels, the Heat players let their guard down in the final quarter and collected more than 30 points in 10 minutes. The Lakers find colors under the impulse of a still monstrous LeBron James and the gap is only 5 points with two minutes remaining! But thanks to an award-winning shot in the “corner” of PJ Tucker in front of the bench of Los Angeles, perfectly served by Bam Adebayo, Miami is doing despite this scare and taking advantage of this victory to steal from the Bulls the second place in the standings of the Eastern Conference.
What you must remember
Jimmy Butler, historical. The All-Star guard signed his tenth triple-double with the Heat (20 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists), setting the franchise’s new “all-time” record, ahead of his evening opponent’s 9 units and former Heatle, LeBron James.
The Lakers fourth quarter. Relegated to -19 at the start of the last quarter, Frank Vogel’s men came close to the feat, pushing the Heat players into a “money time” they did not expect. Bright passage in a failed match, this fourth quarter with 37 points scored was not enough.
Change of leader in the East. The Heat take control of their conference with one victory more than the Nets, beaten in Minneapolis, and two more victories than the Bulls.
Tops / Flops
✅ Duncan Robinson. The Miami “sniper” scored 6 award-winning shots, for a total of 25 points (and 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals). He finished as the Heat’s leading scorer.
✅ Jimmy Butler. A huge match on his part, in the leadership and organization of the game. A real boss on whom we will have to count in the race for the MVP if the Heat remain at the top of the Eastern Conference, and if they obviously maintain the same level of game.
✅ LeBron James et Russell Westbrook. The Lakers duo did the job: 33 points (12/22), 11 rebounds and 4 assists for the first, 24 points (9/15), 9 rebounds and 9 assists for the second. Not necessarily very complementary when lined up together, they had the merit of carrying their team, particularly during the end-of-game run, which was unfortunately too short.
✅ The Heat bench : 9 points for Dewayne Dedmon, 8 for Max Strus and 15 for Caleb Martin. The three substitutes were invaluable off the bench, in a tight rotation of eight players (the ninth, Kyle Guy, played only four minutes).
⛔️ The impression left by the Lakers. Despite a very good passage in the last quarter, LeBron James and his teammates delivered a generally worrying game. Disorganized offensively, constantly confused in defense, the Angelinos lacked precision and rigor in all areas of play.
THE FOLLOWING
Miami (30-17) : reception of the Knicks on Wednesday
Los Angeles (23-24) : trip to Brooklyn on Tuesday
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