The Lakers had a red-hot offensive night against the Heat on Monday to pick up a second straight victory, downing Miami 136-115.
LA shot 56.8% from the field and hit 19 3-pointers at a 44.2% clip. They had 39 assists on 51 made shots and dominated the paint, outscoring Miami 58-38.
LA quickly took a 10-point lead on the shoulders of Luka Dončić, who was already in double figures with 12 points. The Heat cut the deficit to two with Davion Mitchell and Klay Thompson combining for 11 points.
Walker Kessler
had six points for Los Angeles.
Despite hot shooting from the field, the Lakers couldn’t build much of a cushion. Giannis Antetokounmpo now led the Heat with eight points. Sandro Mamukelashvili provided a nice spark off the bench with five points.
The purple and gold were up seven at the end of the first.
Miami started the second period with the first four points before Austin Reaves drained a triple. The shots from behind the arc started to fall for Los Angeles with Matisse Thybulle and Ziaire Williams each knocking one down.
Miami cut the deficit all the way to one thanks to Giannis continuing to have a dominant first half as he was up to 17 points. As a team, the Heat were shooting 88% from the field.
LA’s bench put in the work, combining for 27 points. Mamu led the way with nine. Much of the rest of the half remained a back-and-forth affair. The purple and gold went into the locker room up seven after shooting 67% from the field while Miami shot 59%.
Los Angeles also held a 36-24 advantage over the Heat in points in the paint.
Luka and Austin led the second period early, scoring nine points combined and forcing a quick Miami timeout. Out of the break, the Heat turned the ball over, leading to a layup from Kessler on the other end.
At the 10:18 mark, the Lakers led by 18.
The star duo of Luka and Reaves continued to lead the way for LA, combining for 11 points, extending Los Angeles’ momentum throughout the quarter. Williams’s first game back from injury was stellar as he had nine points and two assists.
Bam Adebayo remembered he could play basketball and entered double figures with 11 points, but it didn’t matter much as the Lakers still had all the momentum. They ended the third up 18. Luka had 37 points.
The final frame saw the Lakers start by scoring four in a row, but Tim Hardaway Jr. attempted to help Miami come back by draining two triples. It didn’t matter as LA continued to shoot at an excellent rate from behind the arc, with Luka, LaRavia, Reaves and Mamu all knocking down threes.
Los Angeles subbed in its bench with 1:22 left, and they kept the lead this time without making it unnecessarily interesting.
Key Player Stats
Luka finished with 42 points, seven rebounds and 12 assists. Reaves ended with 27 points and five assists while shooting 10-15 from the field. Kessler notched 15 points with 15 rebounds.
In his return from injury, Williams poured in nine points off the bench. Mamu pitched in with 13 points and four assists.
The rest of the role players all had positive impacts in small ways across the board. Thybulle scored six points with two assists, Grimes had seven points with four assists, Collin Sexton logged six points and LaRavia finished with seven points, four rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
The Lakers’ next game will be against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday at 7:00 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
