Lakers Look to Right Ship Against Heat
The Los Angeles Lakers have found themselves on a losing skid. The Lakers have lost three games in a row and are arguably playing down to their opponents. Last night, in their first game back due to the Los Angeles wildfires, the Lakers got blown out by the San Antonio Spurs. With the loss, the Lakers dropped down to the seventh seed in the Western Conference standings and are 20-17.
Their homestand continues as they will be facing off against a team that has their own drama to worry about. The Miami Heat will be visiting Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday. This will be the Heat’s second game in Los Angeles in a span of three days. They suffered a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday. The Heat sit in seventh in the Eastern Conference standings and have a record of 20-18.
Heat’s star forward Jimmy Butler has missed the last six games and will be missing tomorrow’s contest due to a seven-game suspension. Butler has expressed to the Heat’s front office that he would like to be traded and has no desire to play for the Heat. In his absence, Tyler Herro has stepped up and is averaging nearly 24 points. During this six-game stretch, the Heat’s offense has been averaging over 107 points on offense and allowing opponents to score 109 points per game.
During the Lakers’ three-game losing streak, it has been very obvious that the team has been struggling after halftime. Defensively, the Lakers are allowing an average of over 62 points in the second half while offensively only averaging 51 points scored. Last night, the Lakers shot just under 35% from the field and a whopping 22% from behind the arc. Energy and efficiency in the second half have been an eye-popping concern.
Earlier in the season, the Lakers suffered a blowout defeat against the Heat in Miami. The score ended 134 to 93. Herro scored 31 points and Butler, who was available for the contest added 17. The Heat would end up with six players scoring in double figures. Anthony Davis struggled mightily in that matchup, only having eight points on 21% shooting from the field and seven rebounds. Davis will look to avenge his worst shooting game of the year on Wednesday. Tip-off will be at 7 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
