The good, the bad and the story from Lakers overtime win over Heat

The Los Angeles Lakers were back in action Wednesday night playing the much improved Miami Heat led by Jimmy Butler. They welcomed former Laker Markieff Morris back who’s on the other side of the hall in the visitor’s locker room. He sat out the game from a neck injury from a certain incident that happened in Denver.

The word of the week in Lakers Nation is overtime because after playing an extra five-minute session with the Charlotte Hornets, the Lakers did the same with the Miami Heat. After blowing leads throughout the season, the Lake Show had to overcome a nine-point deficit to force another five minutes.

The Lakers won the game 120-117 in a game that looked more like they wanted the Miami Heat to win. Why? It just seemed like the Lakers wanted the game to go into double overtime.

• Missed free throws…
• A five-second count…
• A blown defensive assignment on the last Miami shot…

But the Lakers are above .500 right?

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

The Los Angeles Lakers got Bam Adebayo in early foul trouble and then Anthony Davis went to work!

The Lakers could have been in a little bit of trouble in the first half as Bam Adebayo was starting to get into a rhythm on the offensive end. But the biggest impact Bam was to have in this game was being strong enough to guard Anthony Davis one on one. Well, Adebayo got into foul trouble collecting three fouls ad spent the rest of the half watching plays like this from AD…

Lake Show Life editor, Jason Reed spoke this week on how Davis continued to shake the “soft” label after a gutsy performance against the Charlotte Hornets.

• Lakers: Anthony Davis proves he isn’t “soft” with wild throw up story

But this is where stories become reality. Give credit to Russell Westbrook to trust the big man by throwing the ball into a tight window for him to catch it but acknowledge the dominance of dunking on two players in the paint on the finish.

He gutted through yet another game with 24 points 13 rebounds (5 offensive!), 4 assists with a steal and a block. He played 45 minutes in this game in addition to the 40+ minutes a couple of nights ago. Last year when the Lakers were playing all of these overtime games, AD’s body gave out and he got injured. Sound familiar?

Avery Bradley.

Wow, the Lakers are really going to have to make a decision with this guy when Talen Horton-Tucker and Kendrick Nunn come back. Not only is he in the starting lineup guarding the opposing point guard 94 feet but in this game, he brought his 3-point shot to the party.

When was the last time anyone could say that Avery Bradley was leading the Los Angeles Lakers in scoring at halftime? Well, Lake Show Life can after Bradley scored 14 points on the strength of four 3 point shots.

He finished with 17 points, but the defense he played on Kyle Lowry and his rotations to Duncan Robinson was the underrated key to the game.

Remember Bradley has a non-guaranteed contract and keeping him will count heavily against the salary cap. This is another scenario that will illustrate if the Lakers are trying to win the NBA title at all costs because bottom line, Avery is the only wing player that plays solid defense on the perimeter while being a capable shooter.

Carmelo Anthony was doing what he always does in the Staples Center…Score. Only in this game, he brought some friends from the bench with him!

Melo came into this game shooting 64 percent from the 3 point line in the Staples Center. The very first time he touched the ball he knocked down a shot from beyond the arc. That’s no surprise. He wasn’t unconscious but he scored 12 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.

What was a pleasant surprise was the hot shooting of Wayne Ellington and Malik Monk. Both players came in looking to shoot and were knocking down 3 pointers at a high rate in the first half and one of these players carried that momentum for the rest of the game.

• Wayne Ellington: 12 points on 4-6 shooting from beyond the arc. 
• Malik Monk: We are going to give him his own section…stay tuned. He played that well!!!

Miami came into this game having the number one scoring bench in the NBA thanks mainly to Tyler Herro (More on him later!), so the Lake Show had to have contributions from the bench and Malik Monk gave it to them.