The second stop on the Los Angeles Lakers road trip was in Miami as the Lakers took on a Heat team battling to remain in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
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After three straight wins, the Lakers lost their last two games, including last night to the Charlotte Bobcats in the first game of this trip. The point guards have continued to shine for the Lakers as Jeremy Lin is playing his best basketball of the year and rookie Jordan Clarkson has continued to improve every game.
The Heat are still led by Dwyane Wade, but it’s a couple of newcomers who will make the difference for them. Center Hassan Whiteside has put up monster numbers since being called up from the D-League. Goran Dragic, acquired at the trade deadline has also played well. The Lakers are 16-43 while the Heat came in at 26-33.
FIRST QUARTER
The Lakers forced a turnover and Wayne Ellington hit an open corner three to get the scoring started. Another Ellington jumper made it 5-0, but Dwyane Wade got a steal and dunk to get the Heat on the board. A Robert Sacre hook and Carlos Boozer jumper put the Lakers ahead 9-4 early. Jordan Clarkson would finish a fast break layup to make it 11-4 and force a Heat timeout. The Heat came out firing after the timeout behind a couple of layups from Luol Deng and a pair of free throws from Wade to make it 11-10 Lakers. A three-point play from Hassan Whiteside gave the Heat their first lead of the game, but Boozer quickly evened things up with a layup on the other end. Jeremy Lin came in and made an immediate impact hitting Clarkson for an alley-oop and Boozer for a transition layup as the Lakers regained the lead with three minutes left in the quarter. The Heat again answered, this time at the free throw line, but Ed Davis kept the Lakers in the game with a couple of easy baskets. A free throw from Deng gave the Heat a 28-25 lead at the end of the quarter.
SECOND QUARTER
Lin had a nice fadeaway jumper and a tough layup to quickly tie the game at the outset of the second quarter. Michael Beasley had a dunk and Henry Walker hit a deep three to put Miami up five, but another Davis dunk kept the Lakers within three. The Lakers would regain the lead on a dunk from Wesley Johnson and an Ellington floater put them ahead by three. Johnson hit a three and Hill hit a jumper to put the Lakers ahead by six, but Wade would hit Whiteside for a layup to keep the Heat within four. The Heat cut it to two, but Ellington hit a beautiful step-back three to give the Lakers a five-point cushion. Dragic had a nice layup, but Clarkson hit Boozer for a short jumper to keep the Lakers ahead by five. The teams traded baskets as the half ended with the Lakers ahead by five, 51-46.
CONTINUE READING: Second half of Lakers-Heat
THIRD QUARTER
Dragic got to the line for a couple of free throws to start the third. Boozer split a pair of his own and Clarkson hit a three as the Lakers quickly went ahead by seven. The Heat quickly cut the lead down to three behind free throws from Wade. A Wade fadeaway tied the game at 55 and a Whiteside block led to a Dragic layup as the Heat took a two-point lead. Davis checked in and hit a tough hook shot to tie the game, but the Heat were able to go right back in front off a layup from Deng. Dragic and Udonis Haslem would push the Heat lead out to six points. Clarkson would hit Hill for a beautiful dunk, but Wade would match with one of his own as the Lakers remained behind by six. Both offenses struggled for some time, before Wade knocked down two free throws to push the Miami lead to eight. A three from Henry Walker gave the Heat their biggest lead of the night at 10 points. A Davis putback and a Ryan Kelly four-point play got the Lakers right back in the game. Lin got a steal that led to a putback dunk from Ellington to cut the lead to two, but Chris Andersen had a tip-in to keep the Heat ahead. Lin hit a three to cut the lead to one and Dragic and Hill traded a pair of free throws. Dragic hit Andersen for a layup as the Heat went into the fourth quarter ahead by three, 76-73.
FOURTH QUARTER
Wesley Johnson got things going for the Lakers with an alley-oop and a corner three to tie the game at 78. Dragic had a nice transition layup and Lin responded with a layup of his own to keep things tied. Jordan Hill hit a jumper and Ed Davis would steal the inbounds pass that eventually led to a layup and foul by Davis. He would miss the free throw, but the Lakers remained ahead by four. Free throws from Wade and Deng cut the Lakers lead to a point midway through the quarter before another jumper from Johnson put the Lakers back ahead by three. Wade got right to the rim for an easy layup but Lin matched with a jumper. The teams struggled offensively for a couple of minutes before a Wade hook cut the Lakers lead to one with under four minutes left. A Dragic three put Miami ahead by two as the Lakers called a timeout. The Lakers were repeatedly denied at the rim by Whiteside as they remained behind by three with under two minutes left. Clarkson knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to one, but Wade knocked down a pair of his own. Lin hit Hill for a beautiful layup to get the Lakers within one again, but Wade hit Whiteside for a massive alley-oop with under a minute remaining. Hill had an impressive offensive rebound and dunk over Whiteside on the other end to get the Lakers within a point, but Wade again hit Whiteside to put the Heat ahead three with under 30 seconds left. Clarkson missed a three and Whiteside knocked down some free throws to ice the game as the Lakers dropped their second straight close game on the road, 100-94.
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