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The Los Angeles Lakers had a tall task of defending home court without star big man Anthony Davis in a rematch of the 2020 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat.
Erik Spoelstra's squad managed to stick around with their counterparts but had a costly inbounds error with 8.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter which could've given the game away. Luckily for them, Lakers guard Alex Caruso missed a potential game-tying shot as the Heat ultimately ran away with a 96-94 victory.
Video via ESPN on Twitter:
The Heat survive to beat the Lakers: pic.twitter.com/wFa7oCsGHf
— ESPN (@espn) February 21, 2021
After seeing how things transpired, Spoelstra admitted that he could've drawn a better inbounds play for the Heat and avoided the crucial turnover. Nonetheless, he was still glad to come out with the win despite the slight scare.
“That’s an inbounds play we’ve made many times before,” he said via the Miami Herald. “I think that was just to make the head coach sweat some more. I think there was possibly some easier plays that we could’ve made. But we’ll get better with that. Thankfully, the turnover didn’t cost us.”
A handful of Heat players stepped up in order to capitalize on the absence of Davis in the paint. Kendrick Nunn topped the team in scoring after recording 27 points, five rebounds, and three assists while Jimmy Butler added 24 points, eight rebounds, and five assists.
Spoelstra will continue to expect huge contributions from his key pieces in their coming games as the team is still missing the services of four bench players due to injuries.
Despite the ugly win, the Heat are just glad to get a victory against their former tormentors and continue their winning streak as they seek to turn things around in their coming games.
