Lakers Use Second Half Defense, Balanced Scoring to Beat Heat 117-108

The Lakers collapsed over the final 15 minutes of Monday's game against San Antonio. On Wednesday, the Lakers looked stagnant and sloppy for the first 24 minutes, giving up 66 points and falling behind by 12 at the break. For a 20-17 team, playing a Heat squad without Jimmy Butler, they simply had to find a way to win. And it wasn't easy, but over the course of the second half, the Lakers increased the pressure defensively, holding Miami to 19 points in the third quarter, and only 23 in the fourth to win (relatively) comfortably, 117-108. It was a strange game, with Miami spending as much of it as they could in a zone, and the Lakers struggling to figure out how to penetrate it. The Lakers couldn't get any kind of production from the bench. But while it wasn't pretty and it's hard to feel like the Lakers discovered (re-discovered?) some sort of winning formula, they found a way in a game they had to have. There's a lot of work left to build the Lakers back up once again into a team that feels capable of consistently good play. It remains to be seen if they can even get there. But in the meantime, they have to figure out how to win enough games so that if the team does find—and then sustain—the next level, they're using that improvement to solidify a seed up in the top six in the West, not scrambling just to get into the play-in rounds. At the least, the first step was rediscovering the defensive intensity that helped the Lakers win six straight a couple weeks back. These Lakers aren't always going to play well, but they can always play hard. Forcing 20 Miami turnovers should have led to more than 23 points the other way, but those points plus the shots Miami wasn't able to take were what swung the game. The homestand was interrupted by tragedy, changing the complexion of this stretch of season that was supposed to go LA's way, getting them prepped for the long roadie at the end of the month. That's not how it's going to play out anymore. But if Wednesday was a "show me" game, where the Lakers had to prove they still were willing to work hard for a win after (bleeping) the bed on Monday, they cleared that bar... in the second half, at least. HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: The Lakers manage to grind out a win. SEGMENT 2: Balanced scoring, and Rui's best game in a long time. SEGMENT 3: Lots of work left to do, but they've got to win in the meantime. Your favorite podcast now has a newsletter! In One-stop for ultimate team and league coverage delivered right to your in box. Sign up for free now, at lockedondaily.com . Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! 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