How defense and leadership catapulted the Lakers to victory over Heat

The Lakers were well on their way to a fourth straight loss, but defensive accountability and leadership helped them earn a win over Heat.

LOS ANGELES - On Wednesday, with half of the game over, the Lakers looked dead in the water versus the Heat.

Miami was in complete control, leading 66-54 and it looked like the Lakers were about to drop their fourth game in a row, making this the longest losing streak of the season.

However, NBA games are 48 minutes long, not 24 and the Lakers rallied back winning in a way we’ve rarely seen this year.

Suddenly, the defensive execution was sharper and rotations got crisper and faster. Momentum is hard to quantify, but you could feel it is beginning to lean toward Los Angeles’ favor.

A prime example of this occurred with 6:53 left in the third, when Anthony Davis defending Terry Rozier III poked the ball out of his hands and dived on the floor for the loose ball.

He flipped it to Austin Reaves and the ball ultimately landed in LeBron James’ hands and he hit the 3-pointer to put the Lakers within one.

The crowd inside Crytpo.com Arena erupted and the Heat took a timeout to try and stop the run.

It’s a cliche that offense gains the attention, but defense wins championships. However, the cliche rang true for the Lakers on Wednesday night. A title wasn’t on the line against the Heat, but having a star player like AD diving on the floor for a loose ball sets a standard and an example for everyone else on the team to follow.

“I challenged the team across the board today in our meeting about leadership,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said postgame. “And leadership, people think about talking, obviously being vocal, talking in huddles, whatever it may be. That certainly is a form of leadership, but leadership takes many forms and I think talk is a requirement of the job as a basketball player.

“Leadership can be playing hard defensively, leadership can be taking a charge, leadership can be taking care of the basketball. It’s all about leadership and ownership for what you are supposed to do. That’s your job. That’s leadership to me. And that’s a great example to me of leadership from AD. It’s being the first to the floor in a tight game. It’s a momentum-swinging play for us.”

Entering the fourth down by two, the job was far from finished for the Lakers. They needed a complete quarter to secure the result and that’s precisely what L.A. did. The Lakers defended the perimeter well in the final frame, forcing Miami to go 3-11 from deep in the fourth.

As their defense began accumulating stops, the team’s shots started going in. Los Angeles scored 34 points in the fourth and shot 70% from the field for the quarter.

The Lakers held a one-possession edge with 3:25 to go and then LeBron put the game to bed. The NBA’s oldest player closed out his former team by scoring seven straight points, extending the Laker lead to nine.

The win was a sigh of relief, ending a three-game losing streak and demonstrating the keys to success for this team for the rest of the 2024-25 season.

The Lakers will only go as far as their defense takes them and the difference between a mediocre defense and an elite one is slimmer than fans think.

“I feel like through our defensive flaws this year, we kind of lose that connectivity,” Austin Reaves said postgame. “We’re not scrambling as good as we could, we’re missing the X-outs, we’re missing box-outs. When you play good defense and you don’t end the possession in a rebound, it’s deflating.

“So, I feel like we did a really good job of that in that second half of covering for one another, running around, scrambling. Like you said, AD on the floor for loose balls, all this stuff really means a lot, man.”

If the Lakers want this to be a momentum-building win, then they need to give this kind of consistent defensive effort night in and night out.

What people are capable of is inspiring, but what people often do is disappointing. Too many times this year, the Lakers have brought a lack of defensive effort to the floor. Even in this game, the first-half defense left much to be desired.

Still, it’s not how you start but how you finish that matters and the Lakers rallied together and did the dirty work needed to win on Wednesday. Let’s hope they do more of the same on Friday when they host the Nets.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.