Heat extinguish Lakers despite another strong Anthony Davis showing

The Lakers kicked off 2024 just as they ended 2023 as they fell at home to the Heat behind a horrid shooting night.

The Lakers had one of their worst shooting performances of the season paired with 21 turnovers. The result was an entirely unsurprising loss to the Heat, 110-96.

It was a messy game with the Lakers nearly breaking their franchise record for first-quarter turnovers. Anthony Davis and LeBron James both had slow starts, though the former certainly turned it on. AD ended the game with 29 points, 18 rebounds, six assists, five blocks and two steals. LeBron had 12 points, six rebounds, and nine assists.

Austin Reaves slipped into the starting lineup and ended the game with 24 points, eight assists, and five rebounds. Max Christie had a solid game offensively with 14 points.

As a team, the Lakers shot just 4-30 from the 3-point line with LeBron James (0-6) and Taurean Prince (0-5) combining for zero makes.

The Lakers came out with a slow pace and the Heat were missing shots. The Heat began heating up, pun intended, which helped them take the lead. The Lakers were a turnover machine getting eight with barely five minutes left in the first quarter.

It was an extremely chaotic first quarter for both teams. Although the Heat were able to keep a lead by seven, it was not a pretty game by any means.

The Lakers' love story with turnovers continued into the second quarter, but Max was able to make a 3-pointer to stop a very slight amount of the bleeding. Much of the second quarter had both teams playing ugly basketball. The Heat managed to keep a lead and even though they weren’t playing well, the Lakers were still somehow in the game.

After a very slow start offensively, AD finally put some points up, but it wasn’t enough as the Heat were cooking and got their lead up to double digits. The Lakers got out in transition with AD leading the charge, passing to Austin, who then passed it back to AD for a dunk that stopped a tiny bit of the Heat’s momentum.

Max gave the Lakers a much-needed 10 points off the bench in the opening half, but it didn’t matter because the Heat led by eight heading into the break, 53-45.

The second half started with a LeBron layup, a Lakers turnover, and a Tyler Herro three-pointer. The Heat were still in charge of the game, but the Lakers did turn their offense up which helped keep the game close.

AD started to take over the game offensively, bringing his point total to 20 with three minutes left in the third. Even with AD’s surge, the Lakers couldn’t manage to find enough consistency to go on a run, and the Heat maintained the lead.

Davis’ takeover continued as a layup helped the Lakers finally get even closer. The Lakers 8-0 run helped get the game within three. A shot by Bam Adebayo made the Heat’s lead by five to end the quarter. The Lakers had shifted the momentum and the outlook for the fourth quarter was looking a little promising.

After missing many shots, Duncan Robinson made back-to-back shots that helped the Heat extend their lead to seven to start the fourth. The Lakers just couldn’t stop the sudden surge the Heat were on and the lead was extended to double digits again.

Continued domination from AD still wasn’t enough as the Lakers kept struggling to find some consistency. Robinson was the fourth-quarter savior for the Heat, knocking down shots he was missing for most of the game.

The Heat extended their lead to 16 with a minute left in the game. The Lakers just couldn’t get over the hump. Another game that was close enough to take a few times throughout that ended with an embarrassing loss.

Key Takeaways:

Once again, the Lakers decided to start a game slowly and it bit them in their behinds. This is a habit that needs to change to give them a better shot at finding consistency.

Turnovers. STOP THE TURNOVERS. Make it stop!

The Lakers’ next game is on Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies at 7:00 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.