The Miami Heat won against the Los Angeles Lakers 112-98 on Wednesday night to move over.500. Jimmy Butler averaged 27 points, Bam Adebayo got to 23 points and 14 rebounds, and the Miami Heat now has a winning record.
Tyler Herro led the Heat with 18 points and nine assists (18-17). Gabe Vincent added 12 points, and Caleb Martin scored 13.
On the 2nd night of a back-to-back, LeBron James scored 27 points, nine rebounds, and six assists for the Lakers. For the Lakers, Dennis Schroder and Russell Westbrook both scored 15 points.
The Heat was almost perfect with ball handling, even without point guard Kyle Lowry, who was absent due to personal reasons. They committed four turnovers in the first three quarters compared to the Lakers’ 19, and they scored an astounding 25-0 more points as a result.
Heat 31, Lakers 2, was the final turnover total. Miami just made six mistakes while forcing 26 others.
At one point, the Heat held a 22-point lead, their third-highest advantage of the year and their largest since October 26.
Although it wasn’t easy in the end, Miami’s final margin of 14 points made it their third-largest victory.
Late in the fourth, the Lakers trimmed the margin to seven, but Herro’s left-wing 3-pointer with two minutes left restored a double-digit advantage. Miami stopped the Lakers’ subsequent possession, and the Heat’s next trip saw Butler go down the lane for an easy layup with 1:15 left to play, securing the victory.
We maintained our lead, Adebayo stated. The most important thing was “that.”
The Laker’s record now reads 14–21. The Cleveland Cavaliers started 11-24 in James’ first season of 2003–04; that is the second-worst record for all his teams through 35 games.
He played his last game as a 37-year-old; on Friday, he turns 38. At age 37, James averaged 30.1 points per game, easily the highest mark in NBA history. At 37, Karl Malone had the second-best average (23.2).
Lakers: James participated in 1,393 games, breaking Tim Duncan’s record for the 10th-most in the history of the NBA. Jason Terry is the following (1,410). On the NBA scoring leaderboard, Westbrook overtook Charles Barkley to move up to position 28. Westbrook has 23,767 points, while Barkley retired with 23,757. On 5-of-6 shooting, including 4 of 5 3-pointers, Troy Brown Jr. scored 15 points.
Heat: The game marked Miami’s 54th and last at home in 2022. The Heat finished those games 35-19 and will play at home on January 8 against Brooklyn. Butler shot 11 for 18 while adding four assists and five steals.
James scored at least 27 points against an opponent in Miami, his previous home, for the fourteenth time. Since he departed the team and moved back to Cleveland in 2014, he has had at least as many in seven outings on the Heat’s home court.