Lakers fall under .500 in out-of-sync loss to Heat.
The Los Angeles Lakers have lost eight of their last 10 games, as they drop below .500 with a 17–18 record after a lackluster 110–96 defeat to the Miami Heat on Wednesday.
The turnovers started early on and throughout for the Lakers, tying a franchise record in a quarter of 10 turnovers to start the game, ending the night with a season-high 21 total turnovers.
To go with their disjointed possession performance, the Lakers topped off their outing with a season-low 13.3% shooting from three on four-for-30 total attempts.
Despite the inconsistencies, the Lakers were within two points in the early minutes of the fourth quarter before faltering throughout the rest of the game.
“We got outworked tonight,” Anthony Davis said on the loss. “It’s a little bit of everything right now and if we keep on this trend, it’s not going to be good for us.”
Despite a losing affair, Davis made a huge impact on both ends as he continued his unspoken all-star play and availability throughout the season because of the Lakers' struggles.
Davis finished with a game-high 29 points, 17 rebounds, six assists, five blocks and three steals in 42 minutes.
The Lakers had the winning edge but didn’t seize their winning opportunity, with Miami’s top player, Jimmy Butler, out of the lineup, including starting forward Caleb Martin and former Laker Thomas Bryant.
Every player in Miami’s eight-man rotation scored in double figures, with Tyler Herro, who finished with a team-high 21 points and Kevin Love, who grabbed 14 rebounds, leading the way.
With a rare four-point showing at the half from LeBron James, it looked like he was due for a big second-half performance.
LeBron was questionable coming into the matchup against Miami with a non-COVID illness.
LeBron scored eight points in the second half, finishing with 12 points on 0-for-six shooting from three and six-for-18 (33.3%) overall while getting eight assists and grabbing six rebounds.
The Lakers inserted Austin Reaves back into the starting lineup for the first time since Dec. 15 in hopes of desperately needed success with the change of scenery.
Reaves was one of the few players who showed a sense-of-purpose attitude against Miami, with 24 points, eight assists and five rebounds in his efforts.
In the third quarter, Max Christie had the Crypto crowd roaring after a sneaky body-to-body dunk over Heat’s Bam Adebayo after driving baseline for the two-handed slam.
Christie finished with 14 points and five rebounds in 28 minutes off the bench.
With the struggles coming from behind the arc, Taurean Prince was the highlighted man who couldn't find a shot from deep, going 0-for-five from three with a scoreless effort in 28 minutes.
The Lakers’ next matchup remains at home against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday at 7 p.m.
