The Los Angeles Lakers started hot and led by as many as 19 points for the second game in a row, and for the second game in a row, they blew the lead and lost the game.
This time, the Miami Heat came back on the Lakers to win by a final score of 115-107 on a night that will probably be best remembered for Shaquille O'Neal's jersey retirement at American Airlines Arena.
O'Neal previously had his jersey retired by the Lakers and is due a rather fantastic statue at Staples Center in March, but the Heat wanted to honor the greatest center in recent memory for helping bring the franchise its first NBA title. The halftime ceremony included speeches and jokes from Heat president Pat Riley and O'Neal.
Back to the action on the court, the Lakers started the game leading 11-0 and peaked with a 42-23 lead in the second quarter. However, the short-handed Lakers only held a seven-point advantage entering the intermission.
LA was without Julius Randle, who was away for the birth of his first child, and also without the injured duo of Larry Nance Jr. and Tarik Black. Thin at the power forward position, Lakers coach Luke Walton looked to Thomas Robinson as the backup power forward.
Robinson played 18 minutes and finished with eight points, 12 rebounds, two assists and a block. Robinson made the most of his time on the court, but even his energetic efforts could not pull off a victory on Thursday.
Lou Williams led the Lakers in scoring with 27 points off the bench, while Nick Young led the starters with 20 points on 7-14 shooting. Four of the five Lakers' starters scored in double figures, with rookie Brandon Ingram being the only exception.
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For Miami, the starting trio of Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic and Justice Winslow got bench contributions from James Johnson and Tyler Johnson to pull off the comeback and claim the victory, which ended a three-game losing streak.
Both Winslow and Whiteside finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while the two Johnsons and Dragic combined to hit 10 of 17 shots from beyond the three-point line.
Simply, the Heat started ice cold, but by the end of the night, Miami out shot the Lakers from the field and from beyond the three-point line. Miami also record more rebounds, assists and blocks than the Lakers, as LA seemed to run out of gas the longer the game went on.
With the defeat, the Lakers fell to 11-21, which means the purple and gold have now lost 10 of their last 11 games. Next, the Lakers wrap up their seven-game road trip in Orlando on Friday night before returning home to play the LA Clippers on Christmas night.
