Los Angeles Lakers’ Tough Defense Beats Miami Heat, 95-80

LeBron James and his Los Angeles Lakers defeated Miami Heat thanks to the fantastic defensive effort. The purple and gold won this one with 95-80, and also, James reached his 1000th 20+point game, becoming the third person to do such a thing.

King James did that by scoring 12 out of his 25 points in the final period, and ahead of him now are just Wilt Chamberlain and Karl Malone.

Lakers limited Miami Heat to only 4 points in the last 7:48 of the contest, shutting down the guests from Florida in all aspects of the game. But apart from that final period, the home team played excellent defense throughout the entire game. They’ve limited Heat to just 35% from the field, allowing them to make 28 shots in 80 attempts. Erik Spoelstra’s side was catastrophic from downtown with 6 hits made in 35 tries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5p_ZguCF6I

“It’ all about the communication,” said LeBron after the game, when the reporters asked him about the defense. “When you communicate even when you have great downs, you are able to make up for it because you are flying around and talking, and we did that once again tonight.”

LBJ had 25 points, 6 assists, 4 boards, and was 10 for 19 from the field.

His Lakers came flying into this event, making a 13-2 series in the opening 3:38. After that, Miami started to feel more comfortable, and the visitors slowly began to cut that deficit. They would even reach the lead with 4:02 in the second when Kendrick Nunn scored a two-pointer to lift his team to 40-39.

As soon as the second half opened, the Lakers began to pound, reaching a double-digit lead quickly. An 8-0 run in the late part of the third, secured the hosts a 68-55 advantage. For one brief moment, Miami was able to come down to 78-71, but their pale and inefficient finish prevented them from making this contest a more interesting one.

Their best player was Jimmy Butler with 22 points, shooting 7 of 16 and not hitting a single three-pointer on four occasions. Apart from that, Butler added 6 boards. Goran Dragic came off the bench scoring 19 buckets with 7 assists and 6 boards. Bam Adebayo had 11 points and 9 boards while Nunn ended the night with 10 points.

Among the Lakers, Anthony Davis had a team-high 26 points with 8 boards and 7 assists. The Lakers had 30 dimes last night, showing excellent chemistry on the court. LBJ and AD were the only ones with 10 or more points, while JaVale McGee had 9 and 10 boards.

LeBron talks Coach Spoelstra, Lakers’ defense and more following a big home win!#LakeShow pic.twitter.com/On53bxAuxI

— NBA TV (@NBATV) November 9, 2019

LeBron spoke after the match about his former coach Spoelstra and the Heat in general, saying that his team needed to give 100% in order to win this event, due to Spoelstra’s mentality and philosophy of play.

“I know how coach Spol coach team and they gonna play extremely hard,” James said. “And if you don’t play extremely hard, they are going to embarrass you. We knew that. They came with a great win last night in Phoenix, and we knew they were going to give everything they had.”

Heat (6-3) had a three-game tour through the West, during which they defeated the Suns and lost to the Lakers and the Nuggets. They will be heading back to Florida now to host the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday.

Lakers (7-1) posted their seventh straight win, and are the leading team in the league at the moment. The purple and gold are meeting with the Toronto Raptors on Sunday at Staples.