Lakers player grades: Luka's 60 points give L.A. eighth straight win
· Yahoo Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers sent a message to the rest of the NBA by defeating the Houston Rockets on the road on Monday and Wednesday to extend their winning streak to seven games. But they had to quickly turn around and travel one time zone east in order to face the Miami Heat on Thursday.
Visit asg-reflektory.pl for more information.
They reportedly didn't arrive in South Florida until the early hours of this morning, which made fatigue and lack of sleep a concern. Even worse, Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves were listed as questionable for this contest. While all three were cleared to play, it looked early as if the quick turnaround was handicapping the team.
The Heat scored the first nine points of the game, and by playing fast-break basketball, including after made baskets, they led 42-29 at the end of the first quarter. Los Angeles started to chop away at that deficit late in the second quarter and went into halftime down 65-59 before everything changed.
L.A. went on an 18-4 run in the third period to take a 90-79 lead, and all of a sudden, the team hardly looked fatigued. The fourth quarter was infested with many foul calls, but the Lakers did what was needed to maintain their lead throughout.
In the end, it felt like Miami got hit by a Category 5 hurricane that gathered throughout the evening in the form of Luka Doncic. He scored 60 points one night after putting up 40 points and missing a triple-double by nine rebounds. But this was a team effort, and now, the Lakers are one of the NBA's hottest teams. Their winning streak is now at eight games, which is their longest winning streak of this season, and they have won 11 of their last 12 games.
With a 45-25 record, they're two games ahead of the fourth-place Minnesota Timberwolves. They won't catch the 52-18 San Antonio Spurs, but it is starting to look like they have the inside track on finishing third in the Western Conference.
Marcus Smart: C-plus
Smart had trouble hitting shots in this game. He ended up just 2-of-6 from the field and 1-of-4 from 3-point range, but he went 8-of-9 from the free throw line to score 13 points. He also had four assists, two rebounds and two steals.
Defensively, he helped prevent Miami's backcourt from doing anything out of the ordinary. Tyler Herro scored 21 points on a subpar 8-of-19 from the field while committing four turnovers, while Norman Powell scored 20 points and missed four of his five 3-point attempts.
Deandre Ayton: D
Ayton wasn't much of a factor in this game. He got only up five shot attempts and made three of them, limiting him to six points, and in 29 minutes, he got only four rebounds. On the other side, he allowed Bam Adebayo to put up 28 points and hit three of eight 3-point attempts. Adebayo came into this game shooting just 32.3% from downtown.
Austin Reaves: C-plus
Reaves missed five of his first six shot attempts and even had some trouble handling the basketball early in this game. He played somewhat better afterward, but overall, this was a relatively quiet night for him, at least by his current standards.
He shot 5-of-12 overall, 2-of-7 from beyond the arc and 6-of-10 from the foul line, and in 40 minutes, he scored 18 points, to go along with five rebounds and four assists.
LeBron James: A
James had two points in the first quarter, but he started to ramp things up afterward with nine points in the second quarter. He did a great job of playmaking and hitting the open man, and he didn't miss a shot until early in the fourth quarter, when his eighth field-goal attempt of the game was blocked.
He went 8-of-12 from the field on the night and scored 19 points while also turning in 15 rebounds and 10 assists, giving him his second triple-double of the season and the 124th of his career. One might have expected him to look tired in this situation at age 41, but that wasn't exactly the case.
Luka Doncic: A-plus
Doncic scored a fairly efficient 21 points in the first half, which was excellent in its own right, but Miami had no idea what it would be hit by afterward.
He then made three 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the third quarter to give the Lakers their first lead of the game. Overall, he scored 19 points in the period, giving him 40, and he kept pouring it on to keep his team in front.
This was Doncic's third 60-point game of his career — the only game in which he rolled off more points was that memorable 73-point eruption two seasons ago. On Thursday, he made 18 of his 30 field-goal attempts, nine of his 17 3-point tries and 15 of his 19 free throw attempts. In his spare time, he contributed seven rebounds, three assists and five steals.
He likely won't win this season's MVP award, but he's undeniably playing at an MVP level, and he's now in the prime of his career a few weeks after turning 27 years of age.
Rui Hachimura: B-minus
Once again, Hachimura didn't get up as many shots as he could've, but when he had opportunities on offense, he took advantage. He made three of his six shot attempts and scored seven points in 18 minutes while adding one rebound and one steal.
Jaxson Hayes: B
Hayes was productive in his 19 minutes of playing time. He shot just 2-of-6 from the field, but he had a decent six points, and he helped out on the boards with five rebounds, which put the Lakers in position to outrebound Miami by six. The big man also blocked two shots and added on assist.
Jake LaRavia: B-minus
LaRavia's scoring has been very meager, but he has helped L.A. out in other areas. In 18 minutes of playing time, he made two of his three shot attempts and scored five points, but he grabbed six rebounds and also had one block and one assist.
If the Lakers are to make a truly deep playoff run, LaRavia will need to supply more scoring, especially from behind the 3-point line. But for now, his overall effort and energy are beneficial off the bench.
Luka Kennard: D
Kennard got 13 minutes of playing time, but he attempted just one shot, which hit the side of the backboard. He went scoreless and contributed only two rebounds. He has now gone five games without scoring more than five points.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers player grades: Luka's 60 points give L.A. eighth straight win