Lebron, Heat Too Much for the Lakers

For all practical purposes, all roads leading to the NBA title must first go through Miami. Not LA, not Chicago, and surely not Boston. In fact, close to 75% of the GMs polled have said that the Miami Heat are the clear favorites to be crowned the 2012 NBA Champions. Feeding off a heavy dose of uncontested 3-pointers (9-18 for 50%), the Miami Heat kept the Los Angeles Lakers at arms-length for most of the night and cruised to a 98-87 win at the American Airlines Arena.

King James showed Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers that he's capable of carrying the Miami Heat all by himself. All rights reserved. Copyright 2010 Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

After a dismal first half that saw the Lakers accounting for only 37-points, the Heat continued to build upon their domination with active hands, quicker reactions off the ball and some more poor shooting by the Lakers. Lebron James (31 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocked shots) was a one-man wrecking crew, but King James got plenty of help from his supporting cast with Chris Bosh (15 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal) and Shane Battier (11 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 blocked shot) more than making up for the absence of Dwayne Wade.

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Miami’s lead ballooned to 77-56 at the end of the 3rd period as Kobe Bryant (24 points on 8-21, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals) suffered through another difficult night, thanks to an aggressive Heat defense that started with Battier and often ended up with the Black Mamba being double-teamed, forcing him to pass the ball out to his equally cold perimeter shooters. The game further spiraled out of control as the Laker bench was unable to get any stops or put any points on the scoreboard themselves.

About the only bright spot for the Lakers was Pau Gasol (26 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 blocked shot), who found himself relatively unguarded as the Heat concentrated their defensive efforts on Kobe and Drew. Andrew Bynum, (15 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocked shots) never really got engaged into the flow of the game and at times looked disinterested as Miami pummeled the Lakers on the glass.

The Lakers cut into the sizable Miami lead and drew within 92-79 with just over 3-minutes to play behind a 3-pointer by Kobe. Kobe drained another trey, this one banking home, then stole the ball for an easy dunk and suddenly the score was 94-84. But Miami was never really in danger as James dropped in a floater over Bynum and the Heat made it 5-straight wins over the Lakers. Matt Barnes (3 points on 1-6, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocked shots) and Derek Fisher (2 points on 1-5, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal) could not alleviate any pressure off of the constant double-teams and had their hands full trying to contain James and Mario Chalmers (10 points, 6 assists1 steal) themselves.

Even out-of-shape Eddy Curry (6 points, 3 rebounds in6-minutes) made the Lakers look bad in his first appearance of the season. If Mike Brown was licking his chops before the season started, he better start praying that help is on the way soon. The Lakers looked old, unsure and worst of all, uninspired. Freeing themselves of the confines of the triangle should have allowed for a more free-flowing offense, but instead it has pointed out the glaring shooting deficiencies and lack of athleticism on this team. Other than Kobe, no one is capable of creating on his own. And without Kobe, this team is not capable of picking up the slack when he has an off-night from the field. GM Mitch Kupchak has his work cut out for him, and hopefully he can pull another rabbit out of his hat, this time preferably before the trade deadline.