Los Angeles Lakers: 3 keys to beating the Miami Heat in Game 26
By Ethan Temkin
The Los Angeles Lakers hope to extend their road winning streak to 13 when they take on the Miami Heat on Friday night. Let’s look at the three keys to victory that will help them achieve that.
The Miami Heat are an elite team on both sides of the floor, with the 8th ranked offense and 10th ranked defense per CleaningtheGlass. They are well coached, have perhaps the best assemblage of role players in the NBA, and a bonafide star in Jimmy Butler.
The Heat and Los Angeles Lakers have already met once before, but that was early in the season, with both teams still feeling out their new rosters. With more games under both team’s belts, we should expect a much tougher matchup this time around.
For the Heat, Goran Dragic (groin) and Justise Winslow (back) are both listed as questionable so we will most likely get an update to their status closer to tip-off. These two are important pieces to the Heat’s second unit, so losing these two for Friday’s game will be a huge blow for the team.
On the Lakers side, Avery Bradley finally made his return from a hairline fracture in his foot, and the rust was pretty apparent. Bradley played only sixteen minutes and scored just two points, but that’s to be expected after being unable to do any on-court activities for the past four weeks.
In addition, Kyle Kuzma and Rajon Rondo are both considered day-to-day after missing Tuesday’s game against Orlando, so their status is still up in the air as well.
In what should prove to be a fun and exciting matchup, as well as a return for LeBron James to the place where he won two NBA championships, here are the three keys to victory for the Los Angeles Lakers.