With Luka Doncic back in the fold, the Los Angeles Lakers will be out to solve what ails them at home when they host the Miami Heat on Sunday.
The Lakers are just 1-2 in home games (4-2 overall) and have yet to see LeBron James (sciatica) play this season. They pulled off a 117-112 victory at Memphis on Friday when Doncic returned from a finger sprain and a leg contusion to score 44 points.
The Heat know the injury bug well, playing without Tyler Herro (ankle) and rookie Kasparas Jakucionis (groin) so far this season. Add in the absence Thursday of Norman Powell (groin), and they were no match for the San Antonio Spurs in a 107-101 road loss.
After Austin Reaves carried the Lakers through a three-game absence of both James and Doncic, they were closer to being whole again Friday. Doncic became the second player in NBA history, after Wilt Chamberlain, to score at least 40 points in his first three games of a season.
“I feel great, but obviously, if we get a win, I feel even better,” said Doncic, who added 12 rebounds, six assists, and shot 14 of 27 from the floor. “Sometimes it’s going to be scoring, sometimes other things.”
Doncic was supposed to be out until Sunday, but he joined the team in Memphis and helped finish off a 2-0 trip that also included a stop in Minnesota, where Reaves hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer to defeat the Timberwolves.
While Doncic has averaged 45.3 points in his three games, Reaves scored 21 points on Friday and has averaged 32.0 points over all six games. The Lakers rallied from a 69-55 halftime deficit to earn the victory over the Grizzlies.
“We challenged them at halftime and it was like watching two different teams,” said Lakers head coach JJ Redick, who characterized his players as “zombies” over the latter half of the second quarter.
Despite being short-handed at San Antonio, the Heat were able to erase a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to lead 91-90 with 6:44 remaining before being overwhelmed by a 16-4 run that sealed the victory for the Spurs.
Bam Adebayo scored 31 points with 10 rebounds, and Andrew Wiggins added 24 points. Simone Fontecchio made five 3-pointers and scored 18 points off the bench.
Miami reserve forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. was held to six points off the bench but did contribute eight rebounds. He is averaging 16.2 points with 6.6 rebounds in his third NBA season.
Now, the Los Angeles-area native returns home for games Sunday against the Lakers and Monday against the Los Angeles Clippers. Powell, another Southern California native who was traded by the Clippers in the offseason, is expected back soon.
The Heat’s 101 points on Thursday were well under their season average of 125.4 and even further under what was an NBA-best mark of 131.5 entering the game at San Antonio.
“It’s not always going to be easy, it’s not about how many points we can put up on the board,” Heat head coach Eric Spoelstra said, according to the Miami Herald. “We missed some shots during the course of the game that changed things. But … we were there at the end. It was a ball game, and they just made more plays.”
