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."
.png?w=600)
