The stakes weren’t nearly the same Saturday night and neither were the rosters, with the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat with decidedly different looks than when they met in October in the 2020 NBA Finals.
But for the Heat, this still was one with considerable meaning, on the sixth stop of a seven-game trip.
Already shorthanded, the Heat lost Tyler Herro in the first half with a hip injury, not that it evoked much in the way of sympathy from the Lakers, who were playing in the injury absence of Anthony Davis.
Unlike in that decisive Game 6 of the Finals on Oct. 11, when the Lakers left the NBA’s Disney quarantine bubble with the championship, the Heat this time walked away with the victory, with a 96-94 decision at Staples Center.
“We’re realizing that we belong,” Heat forward Jimmy Butler said. “We just got to start stringing together wins.”
At 3-3 on their seven-game trip, the Heat now will look to cap it off on a winning note Monday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Although not again his triple-double self, Butler scored 24 for the Heat, with Kendrick Nunn scoring 27 and Bam Adebayo 16.
The Lakers got 23 points from Kyle Kuzma, along with 19 points, nine rebounds and nine assists from LeBron James.
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Five Degrees of Heat from Saturday’s game:
1. Closing time: The Heat led by 15 early, by seven at halftime, went down three in the third period, and then went into the fourth quarter up 81-77.
The Lakers then fell behind by 10 with 8:02 left, but with 2:41 to go, James converted a dunk to move the Lakers within 92-89.
Butler then went into attack mode, drawing a foul on Kuzma with 1:39 to play. At 4 of 6 from the line to that stage, Butler converted both for a 94-89 Heat lead.
But Kuzma followed on the other end with a 3-point play to make it 94-92 with 1:28 left.
Then, with 25 seconds left, the Heat’s Duncan Robinson was called for an offensive foul, fouling out on the play, with possession to the Lakers.
From there, a 3-pointer was off by the Lakers’ Wesley Matthews, with Butler getting to the line with 12.4 seconds left and converting both free throws.
The game ended on a wild sequence that included an inbounding turnover by Andre Iguodala, with the Lakers’ Alex Caruso off with a potential game-tying jumper off at the buzzer.
2. Streak ends: Butler’s run of three consecutive triple-doubles ended when he had to focus more on his offense than setting up teammates, with only Adebayo and Nunn providing consistent offense alongside.
He closed with eight rebounds and five assists.
3. Another one: Although he briefly played through the injury, Herro was diagnosed with a right hip contusion at half, with Max Strus entering in his place in the rotation in the third quarter.
Herro, who did not return, had five points, four rebounds and three assists in the first half, injured on an and-on drive.
With a second-quarter 3-pointer, Herro has now converted a 3-pointer in 30 consecutive games, joining Robinson, Tim Hardaway, Eddie Jones and Dan Majerle as the only Heat players to do so.
4. Nunn sense: Nunn closed the first quarter with 15 points, his highest-scoring quarter of the season. He shot 3 of 3 on 3-pointers in the period.
Nunn has now scored in double figures in 14 of his last 15 appearances, taking advantage of the injury absences of Goran Dragic and Avery Bradley, who are not on the trip.
5. Mind blowing: James now has had at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists in 30 consecutive games, uneven with his 7-of-21 shooting Saturday night.
Before the game, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra spoke of the seemingly mind-blowing experience of facing James in last season’s NBA Finals.
“In the Finals,” Spoelstra said, “he was making adjustments to our adjustments to the adjustments. And not making an adjustment to the adjustment I thought about making an adjustment, but I bluffed the adjustment, and he knew I was making a bluff. By the end of the series, I had no idea what the adjustments were.”
