The Heat Survive the Lake Show!

        Any time LeBron James comes back down to Miami it's a must-see game. LeBron spent four years of his NBA career in Miami in what is famously known as the "Big Three" era. During his time in Miami, LeBron James went to the NBA Finals four straight times, won two NBA championships, two Finals MVPs and two regular season MVPs. The case could be made that LeBron was at his peak when he was in Miami. The 38-year old Laker forward did not disappoint and continues to show his greatness. 

        The Lakers are coming off a lost in Orlando against the Magic and the Heat are coming off a win against their in-season tournament match up, the Washington Wizards. It's big games like this that you see more out of Jimmy Butler. In this game against the Lakers we saw Butler, who isn't known to shoot so many threes, go 3 for 4 from 3-point range (75%). Overall Butler scored 28 points shooting 9 of 15 from the field (60%) and playing great defense like he usually does. 

        Bam Adebayo had a dominant game, he even shot and made a 3-point shot. Adebayo was just a force in the paint against Anthony Davis and Christian Wood. Bam scored 22 points shooting 9 of 20 from the field (45%) and 1 for 1 from 3-point range (100%), 20 rebounds including 5 offensive rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Outside of the blocks and steals, Bam made himself present on the defensive end and is already making a case to be the Defensive Player of the Year. According to nbastats, guards are shooting 34% from the field when guarded by Bam and he is holding opponents to 13% from the field in isolation situations. 

        On the Lakers side, outside of LeBron, the Lakers got some good contribution from their role players such as Austin Reeves, D'Angelo Russell before getting ejected and Christian Wood preferably down the stretch. The Lakers did not have much service from Anthony Davis in the second half after feeling some pain in his hip. While the Lakers were down for most of the game they went on a 19-8 run in the 4th quarter to cut the Heat lead to just 2 with about two minutes left in regulation. For the rest of the game neither team made a field goal and the Heat were still up by two. In the final seconds, the Lakers had the final possession, Austin Reeves inbounded the ball to LeBron and as he attacks, he finds Cam Reddish in the corner wide open but he misses the game-winning shot and the Heat survived. 

        Even though we are still early into the season, the Heat have made a bit of a pattern. The Heat are not the best offensive team but in games they build early double-digit leads. Yet towards the end of games the opponents have cut the Heat lead to single digits, giving opponents some momentum. In the last two games against the Wizards and the Lakers, the Heat had nine turnovers in the 4th quarter of each game. While the Heat look to get back on track after two wins, they need to address the late turnover issues.