Big leads hadn’t led to wins the way the Lakers’ would’ve liked heading into Friday’s tilt with Miami.
The night before, they let a 14-point advantage slip in Portland, and three weeks earlier they fumbled a 19-point lead against this same Heat squad. But this time Los Angeles just kept pouring it on, piling up a new season-high in scoring for a 127-100 victory.
“Our ball movement that we’ve been doing the past couple games has just been contagious,” Julius Randle said. “We’ve just been carrying it on — a lot of passes, moving the ball, open man gets the shot.”
Luol Deng — who had missed Thursday’s game due to bicep tendinitis — enjoyed his best game as a Laker at the expense of his previous team, finishing with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting and 14 rebounds.
With Hassan Whiteside, the NBA’s leading rebounder, out for Miami (11-27) due to an eye injury, the Lakers (14-26) feasted on the boards and in the key.
They racked up a season-high 62 rebounds — 21 more than the Heat — while scoring 68 points in the paint.
Deng was at the forefront of this, as he and Tarik Black (10 points, 11 rebounds) both tallied double-doubles — the latter’s first since April 2015.
The Lakers jumped on Miami early for a 10-0 lead to begin the game, but the Heat had plenty of time left to respond, trimming that cushion to 58-56 at halftime.
L.A. managed to bring its advantage back up to eight in the middle of the third when each team lost one of its key players.
Jordan Clarkson (four points, 10 minutes) took exception to some physical play from Goran Dragic (16 points, 22 minutes), as the guards ended up in a shoving match with one another.
Both were assessed technical fouls and ejected, which Deng found to be the crucial point of the Lakers’ win.
When something like that happens, one team is going to be more aggressive,” Deng said. “I thought we were the aggressive team.”
L.A. pushed its lead up to 14 by the final minute of the third quarter and then buried Miami in the fourth.
The Heat never came closer than eight points down, as the Lakers went on a 20-4 run to bring their advantage all the way up to 119-95 with little time left.
Lou Williams was the key to this as he erupted for 16 points in the final frame to finish with 24 plus five 3-pointers. He was complemented by a strong all-around effort from D’Angelo Russell, who put up 19 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Ingram Thrives
Second-overall pick Brandon Ingram pieced together one of his best performances yet, tying his career-high of 17 points (6-of-9) with six rebounds and four assists.
He scored 11 points in the fourth quarter alone, hitting all three field goal attempts and all five free throw tries.
“It’s gonna come and you see flashes of it,” Deng said of the rookie’s potential. “I think he’s starting to realize how good he is. Every now and then, he makes moves that you know you just can’t teach.”
This was evidenced by Ingram’s ability to get to the rim against the Heat, using some nifty dribbling and his supreme length to take advantage of Whiteside’s absence in the paint.
All but one of his baskets came in this area.
“I think he’s slowly been getting more comfortable at navigating the paint,” head coach Luke Walton said. “He’s had, in each of the last couple games, some really nice finishes. … Like anything else, that’s just figuring it out as a young player (and) trying to see where he can look to take advantage of things.”
Clarkson, Dragic Tossed
Walton felt that the altercation between Clarkson wasn’t “that big of a deal,” and Deng certainly agreed with him when the team huddled up after it.
“I told them I’ve been in the league for 13 years,” Deng said. “This is just the way it always happens. There’s never a fight. You kind of like push each other, you get held back and you got back to your bench.”
Clarkson, meanwhile, said he will wait to hear from the league if he can play in Sunday’s game against Orlando.
“It’s the heat of the game,” he said. “Stuff happens throughout the game. We’re not gonna back down from guys. We’re out here playing guys and stuff happens.”
Notes
Randle played through a sprained right finger suffered in Portland. … Willie Reed (22 points, 12 rebounds) and James Johnson (20 points) led Miami. … Nick Young hit his 100th 3-pointer of the season. … The Lakers made half of their 98 shots and outscored the Heat in the second half by 25. … L.A. played in its black “Hollywood Nights” uniforms. … A sold-out crowd of 18,997 was on hand at Staples Center.