James erupts for 51 in return, Lakers extend Miami’s woes at home
MIAMI — Burn the uniforms? Make it 0-4 in “Vice Nights” colors for the Miami Heat, this time a loss shaded in the resplendent hues of LeBron James.
Reminding of what once was, James mixed and matched feathery 3-pointers and fierce dunks on the way to 51 points in a 113-97 Sunday night victory at AmericanAirlines Arena by the Los Angeles Lakers that extended the Heat’s home losing streak to four.
With his third career 40-point game against the team he led to four consecutive NBA Finals and 2012 and ’13 championships, James became the first Laker since Kobe Bryant to have multiple 40-point games in a season. It was his first victory over the Heat since leaving the team in 2014 free agency.
“I’ve seen it before on our side, but no question, when he’s hitting the three like that, that changes the equation,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We probably should have gone more aggressively to take the ball
out of his hands.’
The Lakers pushed to an early double-digit lead and held the Heat at bay from there.
The final push for the Heat, who were lacking sidelined point guard Goran Dragic, came on a Wayne Ellington 3-pointer that trimmed the deficit to 102-94 before the Lakers put it away. Ellington led the Heat with 19 points, shooting 5 of 11 on 3-pointers.
“I don’t know, but we’re going to get to work,” Spoelstra said of his 6-10 team’s struggles. “Our staff is going to get to work.”
Five degrees of Heat from Sunday’s game:
1. Many try: The Heat opened with Justise Winslow as the primary defender on James, cycling through James Johnson, Kelly Olynyk and others.
The problem was once James came out hot with his 3-point shooting, there wasn’t much anyone could do defensively. He closed 19 of 31 from the field, including 6 of 8 on 3-pointers, with eight assists and seven rebounds in 38:29.
“He’s timeless,” Spoelstra said. “I throw on their games from time to time when I can’t sleep and watch the West Coast games. I just think you can book it every year, 28, 8, 7. It doesn’t matter what uniform. It doesn’t matter what year.
“Consistency is as much of a talent as any physical or mental talent. And he’s five-star in all of those.”
2. Johnson back (sort of): James Johnson made his season debut, having been out since May surgery for sports hernia, when he entered with 4:14 to play in the first quarter.
The initial appearance proved to be a cameo as Johnson was forced out with 2:59 left in the second quarter, having picked up four fouls in his first 9:44 of action.
“What I saw was he needs game minutes to get into rhythm,” Spoelstra said.
With Johnson back, it pushed Bam Adebayo and Olynyk to the back end of the rotation. Johnson played 15:15, with eight points on 2-of-8 shooting, no rebounds, two assists and five fouls.
“It felt good to get some confidence out there,” Johnson said. “My teammates were giving me confidence.”
3. Angry exit: Called for his fifth foul with 6:31 to play, Josh Richardson twice threw a shoe in the stands, was tagged with a technical foul and ejected. Richardson kicked a chair on his way to the locker room.
“It was a series of events I got caught up in,” Richardson said of his frustration. “Going forward, I can’t let that happen.”
With the second shoe toss going deep into the stands, an NBA fine will assuredly follow Monday, likely in the $25,000 range, based on previous league sanctions for such actions.
“You saw competitive will come out,” Spoelstra said.
Spoelstra followed with a technical foul of his own four seconds later.
Richardson closed with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting, six rebounds and three assists.
4. Limited lift: Hassan Whiteside again struggled from point-blank range, raising questions whether explosion that was lost with last season’s knee issues cannot be recovered.
Whiteside shot 2 of 9 from the field after a similar night of troubles Friday in Indiana, making him 8 of 24 over the past two games. One of Sunday’s misses was another 3-point try.
While the Heat continue to labor to get the ball into the post, when they do the results have been extremely limited.
“’He’s healthy,” Spoelstra said. “These are the ebbs and flows of the season,
Whiteside finished with six points and seven rebounds in his 26:40.
“I’m a 50 percent shooter for my career,” Whiteside said. “So I don’t overthink that.”
5. Same as it ever was: A crushing 2018 reality for the Heat, as it has been for the last 16 seasons, is that they are not the same team without Dwyane Wade.
That was not expected to be the storyline with the 36-year-old guard this season, but there does not appear to be another player on this roster capable to putting the team on his shoulders when all else is not working.