For the second straight time, the Lakers opened an Eastern Conference road trip with a last-second loss.
In Indiana two weeks ago, Troy Murphy’s tip in did the Lakers in, but this time it was a Kobe Bryant fadeaway jumper that rimmed out as time expired in Miami that delivered a Lakers’ loss. Bryant’s 17-foot miss allowed the Heat to escape a fierce Lakers’ comeback that trimmed a 12-point lead at fourth quarter’s start all the way down to one before the 89-87 final.
“It felt good,” said Bryant of his J. “When it rattled in, I thought it was going to fall, but it just didn’t happen.”
While Bryant said he was pleased with the fact that L.A. gave itself a chance to tie or win after the team struggled offensively, the Heat found defensive success in its ability to front the Laker bigs and essentially lock up the paint for the first three quarters. Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum combined for just 17 points (13 from Gasol), and the Lakers largely settled for jumpers by scoring only 40 points in the paint for the evening.
“(Miami) played well … they intercepted balls, made some great steals and we threw it away a few times when we didn’t have to,” said Phil Jackson. “We tried to get Pau open early in the game and just couldn’t get the ball into him, and (Andrew Bynum) was in foul trouble.”
Gasol actually had a chance to tie the game with 8.5 seconds left, but missed 1-of-2 at the stripe to keep Miami up one. Dwyane Wade, who finished with a game-high 35 points, then returned the favor by missing one with 6.8 seconds left to set up Bryant’s game-tying attempt.
Throughout the year, opposing teams – no matter how good or bad – have been getting up for the Lakers, and on this occasion L.A. simply couldn’t rise above. They’ll get another shot in Florida with the Orlando Magic on Saturday night.
Your numbers:
1
Blocked shot by the Lakers, from Gasol. Miami got two each from Dwyane Wade, Joel Anthony and Udonis Haslem. L.A. had as many technicals (Phil Jackson) as blocks.
7
Steals for the Lakers, again well below average for the league leaders in that category.
8
Free throw misses in the game’s final 3:07. First were three misses by Fisher (one) and Odom, then three-straight Udonis Haslem misses before Gasol and Wade missed one each in the final 10 seconds.
21
Lakers turnovers, which led to 15 Heat points.
52.5
Free throw percentage for the Lakers on 10-of-19, including 4-of-8 in the fourth quarter.
