The Miami Heat got an impressive road win over the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday night, 110-96, snapping a two-game losing streak. In terms of what the difference maker was, the Heat defensively were over-whelming the Lakers as in the first period, the home team committed 10 turnovers while shooting poor from deep with a measly 11.5 percent.
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke after the game and talked about the importance of being “active.” He would further credit the likes of Miami point guard Kyle Lowry for bringing immense energy to start which resulted in a domino effect of others following along according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“We’re just at our best when we’re active,” Spoelstra said. “Not being flagrant with it or irresponsible with it, but the activity level was there. Obviously, you’re playing a game against the Lakers. It’s on ESPN, so the multiple efforts were there, making them miss moments. The deflections, I thought Kyle at the beginning of the game really kind of set the tone with his activity level and then everybody else joined the party there. That’s definitely been one of the more important things to our defense is when we’re active.”
The defensive showcase resulted in Lakers superstar LeBron James to have a forgettable shooting night as he scored 12 points. Anthony Davis would be the bright side for Los Angeles as he had 29 points, collected 17 rebounds, recorded six assists, and had five blocks.
Spoelstra getting everybody involved in Heat win vs. Lakers
As a whole, steals were a huge aspect of the game for the Heat as they had 14 of them, which is the most the team had the whole season. Lowry had four of those to go along with his 10 points, six assists, and three rebounds.
Spoelstra played eight players the whole game and all of them had double-digit scoring nights, a point that the head coach made after the game about “everybody being a live option.”
“We’re at our best when everybody is a live option and we’re accessing all the different parts of our menu and our offense to keep other teams off balance,” Spoelstra said. “That was definitely the case tonight.”
Tyler Herro talks the importance of being “active”
Heat star Tyler Herro was leading the way for the team as he led them in scoring with 21 points to go along with his six assists and four rebounds. He also stressed the importance of playing active like Spoelstra did, but this goes for both sides of the ball being offensively and defensively.
“Just being more active, being more disruptive in the passing lanes, rebounding the ball and really just making it tough on their guys in getting to their spots and stuff like that,” Herro said. “Definitely more disruptive than two days ago against the Clippers.”
It was an all-around exceptional game for the Heat as they got productive minutes from everybody ranging from the usual suspects like Bam Adebayo and rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr., but also a player like Nikola Jovic was solid with 15 points and eight rebounds. There is no doubt that it was a vintage Spoelstra-type game that he is hoping to continue as 2024 starts.
The Heat now prepare for a Friday night matchup against the Phoenix Suns, though they will once again be without star Jimmy Butler who has a toe injury. Miami is 20-14 on the season which puts the team at fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
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