Miami without mercy against the Lakers!
The Heat took advantage of the defeats of Brooklyn in Minnesota (136-125) and Chicago in Orlando (114-95) to take first place in the Eastern Conference in the NBA!
Despite a Lebron James in great shape and his 17th straight game of the season with more than 25 points, the Lakers’ results do not follow!
The Californians, who should at least recover Anthony Davis very soon, were dominated from head to toe by the Heat of Jimmy Butler (20 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds). Miami was up to 26 points ahead (66-40, 22nd) before getting a slight fright without consequence at the end of the match when the Lakers came back to less than two possessions (105-100, 46th).
On its floor, the Heat starts strong and leads 12-4 after only four minutes of play! 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 second quarter sows panic for Lakers lacking in size where Lebron James must systematically switch to Pivot when the Lakers defend! Robinson continues at 3 points and Vogel’s men are still trailing at halftime (69-52).
After a rather clumsy 3rd quarter of the 2 teams, 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 a winning shot in the “corner” of PJ Tucker in front of the Los Angeles bench, perfectly served by Bam Adebayo, Miami is doing well and taking advantage of this victory to steal from the Nets and the Bulls the first place in the standings of Eastern Conference!
Score final : 113-107
Martin Guerlet
