Miami Heat Cannot Get Out Of Own Way In Loss To Los Angeles Lakers
The Miami Heat had a prime chance to move up in the standings against the Los Angeles Lakers, but had too many self-inflicted wounds to overcome and lost in overtime.
The Miami Heat had a great chance to move up in the standings on Wednesday night. Being on the West Coast against the Los Angeles Lakers, they already knew before tipoff that the Southeast Division-leading Atlanta Hawks had lost to the Toronto Raptors. With a victory, the Heat would have moved into a tie for the division lead and third place in the Eastern Conference.
If that wasn’t enough of an edge to have, the Lakers were dealing with a number of off-the-court problems.
Things were lining up well for the Heat to pick up a victory, but that did not happen as they couldn’t get out of their own way throughout the night. This was a game that would fall under the category of one that the Heat lost, rather than one the Lakers necessarily won.
The Heat had a number of self-inflicted wounds on the night, starting in the turnover department. The Heat were careless with the ball, turning the ball over 17 times. The Lakers made the most of those turnovers, scoring 30 points off of he Heat’s 17 turnovers, while the Heat were only able to force nine Lakers turnovers and convert them into 16 points.
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The Heat also did themselves no favors at the three-point line, where they made an unsightly 3-of-17. Luol Deng made 2-of-4 on the night, while the rest of his teammates combined to go 1-of-13. One of the players who struggled from deep tonight was Josh Richardson.
Richardson has been a revelation for the Heat off the bench this season, being thrust into a prominent role because of injuries. But, Richardson came crashing back down to Earth Wednesday night, missing all four of his three-point shots and all going 0-for-8 overall. This ended a streak of three straight double-digit scoring games, in which he went 9-of-13 from deep.
The bench had been a strength for the Heat recently, but against the Lakers they came up short. Richardson, Justise Winslow and Hassan Whiteside all finished with poor plus/minus ratios, finishing with minus-14, minus-13 and minus-9 respectively. Whiteside stuffed the stat sheet with 18 points, 17 rebounds and seven blocks but the Heat were losing with him on the court.
In a game that focused on Kobe Bryant‘s last matchup with Dwyane Wade, it was the Lakers youngsters that took over. Bryant only played nine minutes in the game, not returning to the court in the second half, but it did not matter as Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson led the way down the stretch.
Playing down to their competition has been something that has plagued the Heat previously this season, and it reared its ugly head once again against the Lakers. This is a bad loss for the Heat, as they could have pulled into a tie for third place in the Eastern Conference.
Instead, with a loss, the Heat are now tied with the Boston Celtics and Charlotte Hornets, holding the fifth spot because of tiebreakers.
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The Heat will look to get things back on track Friday when they continue their West Coast trip against the Sacramento Kings.