Lakers News: LA Role Players Steal Stunning Upset Over Healthy Heat
Heading into their first home contest in the last six games, your Los Angeles Lakers didn't seem likely to do much damage tonight against a motivated Miami Heat team riding high on a two-game win streak.
LA, while missing several of their top players, eked out a 112-109 home victory (and are now on a three-game win streak of their own) against a better, healthier team, improving its record this season to a decent 17-21, and 4-5 since losing Anthony Davis indefinitely to a stress injury in his right foot during its December 16th blowout win over the Denver Nuggets.
LA was missing its top three scorers (LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Lonnie Walker IV), and subsequently would lose a critical role player, Troy Brown Jr., to a left quad strain, before the end of the game's first half.
But it didn't matter tonight at Crypto.com Arena, as a flurry of Lakers role players stepped up to vanquish a tough and physical Miami club.
Dennis Schröder led LA, scoring a career-high as a Laker with 32 points while shooting 8-of-15 from the floor (including 4-of-7 from deep) and 12-of-14 from the free-throw line. He also played some critical fourth-quarter defense against Heat starting shooting guard and general clutch bucket-getter Tyler Herro. The (quite generous) Crypt crowd was even showering him with scattered "MVP!" chants in the fourth quarter. For good measure, Schröder also swiped four steals, grabbed four boards and dished out one assist.
So who started for LA? A mostly-tiny first five of the 6'2" Schröder at point guard, 6'1" Patrick Beverley at shooting guard still for some reason, 6'5" Austin Reaves at small forward (still an improvement over 6'4" Walker, whom Darvin Ham has trotted out at the three a lot lately), 6'6" Juan Toscano-Anderson at power forward (!), and the actually-decently-sized 6'10" Thomas Bryant at center.
Despite missing their top three scorers this season, the Lakers' new-look starting five (its 20th starting lineup of the season, apparently the most in the league to this point) actually cooked up a surprisingly solid first-quarter performance in an encouraging sign of things to come. Schröder (eight points) and Wenyen Gabriel (seven points) paced the Lakers in the frame, while Russell Westbrook finished the period with five assists.
Thomas Bryant, en route to another big night starting in the stead of the injured AD, didn't score as much in the first quarter, but did chip in this highlight-reel-worthy hammer:
Schröder closed out the frame with a clutch three-point play on a drive into the paint:
In the second quarter, Russell Westbrook looked to get his scoring cooking, busting out a slick crossover against another ex-All-Star, Heat guard Victor Oladipo:
Westbrook chipped in 10 points in the period, including two made triples. Russ (12 points total) and Schroder (10 points) led the Lakers to a slight halftime advantage over a relatively-healthy Heat team, 52-48.
This writer fully expected LA to surrender its lead in the third quarter. Instead, LA exited the frame clinging to a one-point advantage, 79-78.
LA started looking a bit shakier in the game's fourth quarter. Los Angeles fell behind by six early in the final frame, 89-83, thanks to a timely Tyler Herro triple. A quick response around the paint from Thomas Bryant helped the Lakers chip the lead to two points. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra responded by bringing closers Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry back into the lineup.
At that point, anxious Lakers fans were just waiting for the other shoe to drop, and for the Heat to go on a two-way run to create some separation. The offense was there, with Butler and Adebayo especially looking sharp down the stretch.
But Miami also just could not stop Dennis Schroder, who generated offense both with clutch layups and plenty of trips to the charity stripe. He also came in handy on the other end against Tyler Herro.
Russell Westbrook, who would finish just a smidge shy of his fourth triple-double this season off the bench, scored the Lakers' game-clinching final bucket (but not its final points), securing a risky inbounds pass from Austin Reaves to finish with a critical layup while drawing a foul (though he would badly brick his free throw).
A crucial trey from reserve Heat guard Max Strus got Miami within a point, 110-109, with four seconds left. Miami was left with no choice but to foul on the subsequent Lakers possession, and Lowry quickly wrapped up Schröder, who capped up his night at the charity stripe with his 31st and 32nd points (he scored his last nine points in the game's closing three minutes).
LA won, just barely, 112-109. The team improves its record to 17-21 on the reason, and will hope to be a bit more whole for its next contest.
Thomas Bryant scored 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor and 3-of-3 shooting from the charity stripe while pulling down nine rebounds. Westbrook scored 21 points on 8-of-18 shooting, dished out nine dimes, pulled down eight rebounds and swiped three steals.
