LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers were able to keep their undefeated record away from Staples Center going while also simultaneously ending the Miami Heat’s perfect home mark after beating them 113-110.
It was a much-anticipated matchup between two of the league’s best teams and it did not disappoint as the Lakers and Heat went back and forth for most of the night with the former barely edging out the win late.
Anthony Davis put up a double-double (33 points and 10 rebounds) while James just missed out on a triple-double (28 points, nine rebounds, and 12 assists).
The Lakers fell behind early as James was uncharacteristically careless with the basketball which led to several run-outs for the Heat and he discussed his start and how he was able to recover from it, via Spectrum SportsNet
“Well, we were down today because of me. I was reckless. I was a quarterback who hadn’t gotten many of reps with the first team today in the first half. And my teammates got on me, told me just be myself. Kind of get my head up, just play basketball. So we were down because of me, I had seven turnovers in the first half. In the second half, I was just… got back to myself playing my game and we all fed off JaVale. Especially in that third quarter, he was blocking everything at the rim. AD got it going, Danny got it going, KCP and I wanted to fill in and just try to help us close the gap and we did that.”
Miami did a good job of jumping passing lanes and sending extra help James’ way to force turnovers. However, the second half was a different story as he made better decisions with the basketball which in turn helped the Lakers offense get going and recapture the momentum.
While looking at James’ eight turnovers in the box score is not pleasant, it is encouraging to see that Los Angeles was still able to overcome them and pull out a win against a Miami team that was playing some of their best basketball in recent weeks. The collective depth and talent on the roster is able to cover for mistakes and that should serve the purple and gold well throughout the 2019-20 NBA season.
At 23-3, the Lakers are absolutely rolling and will look to continue the momentum when they face the Atlanta Hawks during the five-game road trip.