ShareLOS ANGELES: Miami guard Tyler Herro starred as the Heat humbled LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers 134-93 on Wednesday, leaving the Lakers looking for answers after their biggest defeat of the NBA season.
Herro scored 21 of his 31 points in the third quarter and finished with nine of the Heat’s franchise record-equalling 24 three-pointers. Jimmy Butler added 17 points and Bam Adebayo had 14 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Heat, who set a franchise record with 42 assists as they kept their offense firing against the lethargic Lakers.
The Heat were already up by 17 at halftime, but Herro erupted in the third quarter, draining seven three-pointers to match the Heat record for most in a period. “We came into this game with great energy, and you see what happened,” Adebayo said. The Lakers, coming off a 29-point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, looked listless on both ends of the floor. “I’m embarrassed, we’re all embarrassed,” Lakers first-year coach JJ Redick said. “It’s not a game where we had the right fight, the right professionalism.
“There has to be some ownership,” he added. “I own this, but there’s going to have to be some ownership on the court.” There were encouraging signs for James, who came in mired in a shooting slump and scored a team-high 29 points on efficient 12 of 18 shooting. The league’s all-time leading scorer also ended his streak of four straight games without a three-pointer, making one of his four attempts from beyond the arc.
That trey was the 2,451st of his career, passing Kyle Korver for seventh on the league’s all-time list. That will be little consolation now that the Lakers have lost six of their last eight games. Redick said the Lakers are struggling on both ends with “base level game plan stuff.”
But a frustrated James said it wasn’t a matter of the game plan. “If you don’t want to come to compete ... that’s other issues,” he said.
On Friday the Lakers face the Atlanta Hawks, who snapped the Bucks’ seven-game winning streak with a 119-104 victory in Milwaukee. Jalen Johnson scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Atlanta and De’Andre Hunter added 20 points off the bench as the Hawks notched their fifth straight victory.
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 31 points and teammate Damian Lillard added 25, but Milwaukee couldn’t build on an early 10-point advantage. The Hawks took the lead late in the first quarter and never trailed again.
The NBA champion Boston Celtics shrugged off the absence of superstar Jayson Tatum, leading by as many as 20 points in a 130-120 victory over the Detroit Pistons. With Tatum and Jrue Holiday sidelined with knee injuries, Jaylen Brown stepped up and led the Celtics with 28 points and nine assists.
Brown scored 23 points in the first half to put Boston on the road to victory, and the Celtics weathered a late Pistons surge to complete the wire-to-wire victory. Kristaps Porzingis, still getting back to form after returning from ankle surgery in November, scored 26 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked two shots for Boston.
Cade Cunningham had a near triple-double of 27 points, nine rebounds and 14 assists and Tobias Harris added another 27 points for Detroit.
The Orlando Magic bounced back from a blowout loss to the New York Knicks with a 106-102 victory over the injury-depleted 76ers in Philadelphia.
The Sixers, with Paul George and star center Joel Embiid both sidelined, cut a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to one with 22.3 seconds remaining, but the Magic closed it out with free throws from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs.
Wagner scored 35 points to lead the Magic while rookie Jared McCain’s 24 led the 76ers.
On the heels of their Monday win over the Lakers, the Minnesota Timberwolves posted another big win in Los Angeles, thrashing the Clippers 108-80. — AFP
