MIAMI — There were countless negatives to point to following the Lakers’ 134-93 blowout loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, but the most concerning one was this: based on the effort they played with, there was no clue that they were coming off another blowout loss two nights prior.
The Lakers, who have now lost six of their last eight games to drop to 12-10 for the season, didn’t look like a team coming off a 29-point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.
They didn’t look like a team determined to have a winning record on a four-game road trip, which concludes Friday night in Atlanta.
They looked lethargic.
Uncompetitive.
Disinterested in providing a competent level of defensive resistance against the Heat, who tied a franchise-record with 24 3-pointers to improve to 10-10, after making significant strides on that end of the court over the last week.
The lone bright spot from Wednesday: LeBron James broke out of his scoring slump.
The 39-year-old James finished with 29 points on 12-of-18 shooting to go with eight assists and five rebounds in 29 minutes, snapping a six-game streak of him shooting less than 50% from the field. After missing 20 consecutive 3-point attempts, including 19 across four games entering Wednesday, James ended his cold streak from long range with a 3-pointer early in the third quarter.
But that period belonged to Miami’s Tyler Herro (game-high 31 points, five rebounds and four assists), who made seven of his nine 3-pointers in the quarter as the Heat turned their 69-52 halftime lead into a 105-72 margin going into the fourth.
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Four of the Lakers’ last five losses have been by at least 25 points.
After being held to a season-low 12 points against the Timberwolves, Anthony Davis lowered that bar with eight points on 3-of-14 shooting against the Heat to go with seven rebounds and five assists.
The Heat shot 57.8% (52 for 90) from the field and 51.1% from deep (24 for 47), outscoring the Lakers by 57 points from behind the arc.
Jimmy Butler added 17 points, nine rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals for Miami, which had six players score in double figures and set a franchise record for assists (42).
More to come on this story.