By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: CBS Sports
Luka Doncic led the Los Angeles Lakers to an overpowering win over the Miami Heat, 138-117, on Monday at Crypto.com Arena.
Doncic had another monster performance. Doncic finished with 42 points on 14 of 24 shooting, with 13 assists, and went 8 of 10 from the free-throw line. Doncic is averaging 43.4 points in the last five games—an early frontrunner for NBA MVP. The Heat had no answer for him. He couldn’t be slowed down or neutralized.
The first two quarters were competitive for the most part. The third quarter was a different story. The Lakers outplayed Miami and were pouring threes and getting rebounds. The Lakers won the rebound battle 41 to 34. In addition, the Heat got dominated in the paint; the Lakers scored 60 points inside.
As great as Doncic was, the Lakers’ supporting cast was just as strong. Walker Kessler recorded 15 rebounds. Miami continues to struggle. They fall to 2-5. The Heat committed 19 turnovers.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Heat with 30 points, 10/17 from the field, 10 of 15 from the line, and 12 rebounds. Bam Adebayo added 16 with 9 rebounds. Klay Thompson had 19. Thompson scored a season-high 25 points on Friday against the Indiana Pacers. He’s been shooting the ball decently lately. The silver lining for Miami in this game is that they won in fast-break situations (20-6).
The Heat still have to work on their mistakes. A lot of expectations are riding on this team to compete in the East. They are still trying to figure things out.
“We keep on having bad habits creep up in games that we don’t really want,” Antetokounmpo said. “We go one direction, then all of a sudden we go back the other direction. Hopefully against the Clippers we can be better.”
The Clippers are one of the worst teams in the NBA right now. Miami must take advantage and win that game. Coach Erik Spoelstra is not happy with how the team is performing.
“All the losses that we’ve had, we’ve been giving up massive numbers at the three-point line,” Spoelstra said. “That’s been an Achilles ‘ heel for us in this young season.”
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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