LOS ANGELES – As he spoke before Sunday night’s game at Crypto.com Arena, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra attempted to put perspective on his team’s early-season scoring binge, mostly that defense remained the team’s touchstone.
It hardly looked that way over the first three quarters Sunday night, with the Los Angeles Lakers with 43 points in the first quarter, 77 by halftime and 102 through three quarters.
Yes, the Heat again were without sidelined Tyler Herro and Norman Powell, but this 130-120 loss was not about missing firepower.
It was more about an inability to contain for extended stretches.
Yes, there was the fight back from 18 down, just as there was a rally in what turned into Thursday night’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs at the start of this four-game trip. But, again, not enough.
So 3-3 it is through six games, even with a quality defensive effort against Luka Doncic, who after scoring at least 40 in each of his previous three appearances this season, this time closed with 29. He rounded out his triple-double with 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. led the Heat with 31 points. The Heat also got 17 points and eight rebounds from Bam Adebayo, 17 points and six assists from Pelle Larsson, and 15 points and nine rebounds from Andrew Wiggins.
Five Degrees of Heat from Sunday night’s game:
1. Game flow: The Lakers led 43-36 after the first period, shooting .636 in a quarter the Heat went 1 of 8 on 3-pointers.
After going up 18, the Lakers then took a 77-63 lead into halftime, fueled, in part, by nine Heat first-half turnovers, with Los Angeles closing that first half at 18 of 20 in the paint.
The Heat then clawed back within 102-98 at the end of the third period.
From there, the Lakers pushed to a 10 lead midway through the fourth quarter on a driving Doncic layup, holding on from there.
2. Jaquez again: Jaquez again proved to be a spark off the bench, scoring six points in his first two minutes and closing the opening period with 10 points, including 4 of 5 from the line.
Jaquez energy was needed to the degree that he was subbed back in after only a 1:29 break for his first rest. He stood with 16 points and four rebounds in his 17 first-half minutes.
He then started the second half in place of Kel’el Ware, up to 20 points with 7:53 left in the third period.
Jaquez closed 11 of 16 from the field and 9 of 13 from the foul line.
Related Articles
Clippers went for volume, but it doesn’t mean Heat’s Powell out for revenge
How Erik Spoelstra found his scoring savant and fueled the Heat’s offensive eruption
ASK IRA: Is it time for the Heat to again explore the Ja Morant possibility?
Still a Heat waiting game with Norman Powell, Tyler Herro; Doncic up next
Ira Winderman: A blueprint needed in Rozier-Heat-NBA conundrum? Here’s one rendering
3. The flip side: As energetic as Jaquez was, Ware largely was the opposite, so uneven in his opening 5:53 stint that he did not return in the first half, at -10 in those first-half minutes.
Ware’s first action of the second half came with 69 seconds left in the third period, exiting for good with 7:32 to play.
Among the reasons Spoelstra said he injected Ware into his starting lineup in the second game of the season was to better balance the minutes in his power rotation. Instead, Nikola Jovic and Simone Fontecchio were the preferred options in the power rotation.
Of the nine Heat players to see action in the first half, Ware played the fewest minutes, even fewer than Dru Smith.
To his credit, Ware was more energetic in his second stint.
4. 3-for-(not)all: The Heat opened 1 of 12 on 3-pointers, with that lone conversion from Ware.
Ware’s conversion came after a missed Wiggins attempt. After Ware’s conversion, Fontecchio and Jovic each missed three attempts, with Adebayo, Wiggins, Larsson and Smith each missing one.
The Heat’s second 3-pointer came on a Fontecchio conversion with 5:20 left in the second period. The Heat closed the first half 5 of 17 from beyond the arc.
The Heat entered the night fifth in the league in 3-point percentage, at .405.
Through it all, Adebayo late in the second period extended his career-best streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 18 games, dating to last season.
5. Powell sits: With the game opening the first of the Heat’s 15 back-to-back sets, the question is whether the preference was to give Powell one more game off with his groin strain to prepare for Monday night’s matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers, his former team.
“I think it’s a little of taking your time, fighting it out, going day by day,” Powell said of his approach with the injury sustained during the shootaround the morning of last Tuesday’s home victory over the Charlotte Hornets. “It’s nothing you want to force, because with those types of injuries it can be worse by trying to push through and everything. So I think it’s definitely taking a little bit of caution and making sure everything is OK.
“A minor injury, you don’t want to risk it for it to be something bigger, especially earlier in the season. So it’s better to make sure everything is right and I’m good to go.”
