I’m sweating…but at least the Lakers won.
The Los Angeles Lakers finally were able to secure the win on Tuesday night, beating the Miami Heat 102-96. LeBron James had 28 points, Anthony Davis had 22, while Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro contributed 22 and 21, respectively.
Here’s our recap of the chaotic game that has now brought the Lakers within one win of number 17.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is like manna sent from heaven
We all deserve Rob Pelinka an apology.
Going against that is Kentavious Caldwell Pope’s introductory conference from 2017 (wow time flies) where Rob Pelinka compared the signing of KCP to manna falling from heaven to the Israelites… pic.twitter.com/uwmza75tg0
— Lakers Outsiders (@LakersOutsiders) April 6, 2020
We made fun of him endlessly for that clip above. We continued the hate while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope struggled throughout his first couple of years as a Laker. But now? KCP honestly is arguably the third-best player on the Lakers. He made a huge three with 2:58 left in the game to extend the lead to 93-88, only to follow that up only a couple of plays later with a stellar drive past Duncan Robinson to make it a seven-point lead. His defense was also pretty good on Tyler Herro, although Herro continues to make impossible shots possible in these playoffs.
KCP ended with 15 points, five assists, and three rebounds.
The referees were terrible
I can’t believe I’m actually going to include a section devoted to the officiating in this game, but it was terrible. Give the Heat credit for being physical straight out of the gate, but discredit the referees for letting it get so bad that Alex Caruso and Anthony Davis were almost injured. Right before the first half, Jimmy Butler hip checked Caruso on a moving screen, as he had to limp off at halftime. Late in the fourth quarter, Butler again pushed Caruso in the back on a rebound, colliding into Anthony Davis’ knees.
The free-throw disparity was only corrected in the fourth quarter as LeBron James became very aggressive. At one point in the third quarter, LeBron was the only Laker to attempt a free-throw with a 25-6 free throw attempt deficit in favor of the Heat.
The turnovers continue for LeBron James, Lakers
The Lakers were able to stabilize their turnovers in the second half, but early on in this game, it seemed the same type of careless basketball was in store for us. LeBron James specifically was continuing the turnover woes early on, having two very early on in the game that wasn’t even really caused by the defense.
He ended the game with six turnovers while the team as a whole had 15. Somehow it was an improvement from game three’s total of 19, but hopefully, the Lakers will finally correct these before game five on Friday night.
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Two days off for the Lakers, as they will try to win it all on Friday night at 6:00 p.m.
Good night, everyone.
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