LeBron James returns to South Beach, but his impressive outing against his former team was spoiled by Tyler Herro’s epic career-high performance, pushing the Miami Heat in a disastrous blowout win over the Los Angeles Lakers, 134-93, on Thursday (December 5, 2024).
Herro Makes Lakers Pay For Their Horrendous Defense
The Lakers are one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA right now. With a point disparity of -4.2 in terms of points given versus points allowed, Los Angeles now ranks at the bottom of the league. It was more or less the same story when they played against the Miami Heat.
Their terrible defense was evident when Tyler Herro went nuts after halftime. Los Angeles couldn’t contain a blazing Herro who made 7 straight three-pointers in the third quarter and gathered a total of 21 points. During that span, the 24-year-old guard outscored the whole Lakers team by himself, setting up a huge advantage for Miami. Eventually, they took the 41-point blowout lead over the 2020 champs. He finished with 31 points and a career-high 9 triples to cap off the victory.
Herro, who is now in his 6th season, is averaging career-highs in points (24.3 PPG) and 3-point shooting percentages (43%).
Recovering from a shooting slump, defensive big man Bam Adebayo is back at being just as effective on offense as he is on defense. Adebayo controlled the paint as he recorded a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double on top of getting 7 assists. Veteran star Jimmy Butler was also one of the factors in how they got their huge lead. Butler tallied 17 points, 5 assists, and 7 rebounds. Other Heat players who record double digits in scoring are Terry Rozier (16), Haywood Highsmith (14), and Kevin Love (10).
As for the Lakers, LeBron’s 29 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds just all went to waste. Anthony Davis was also not feeling himself that game as he only managed to accrue 8 points and 7 rebounds in 31 minutes.
Miami Heat (10-10) moves up to the 7th seed in the East while the Los Angeles Lakers (12-10), who have lost two straight, fall to the 9th seed in the West.
