The Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers are playing in one of the marquee games on the schedule for Christmas Day on Thursday and the game will be from the Staples Center starting up at 5:00 pm on ABC and the game will have some big name stars in LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, but of course Kobe Bryant will be missing the action with his injury and Miami is looking to continue their strong play, as they have lost just six games this season and are closing in on the Indiana Pacers.
Bryant is out for at least a month with his injury and the Miami Heat are coming into the game after winning over the Atlanta Hawks in overtime and they next will play against the Sacramento Kings on Friday. The Miami Heat are second in the east behind the Pacers this season and there still is a ton of basketball left to be played and it is important for Miami to get home court advantage in the playoffs, as one could argue that the eastern conference finals last season could have went another way in Game 7 had it been in Indiana, but of course it wasn't. The Heat are coming into the game after a win against the Atlanta Hawks in overtime and that matchup saw LeBron James score 38 points and also added six assists, while Chris Andersen added nine rebounds and now the team heads into their game on Christmas against the Lakers after winning over the only other team besides Miami and Indiana that is over .500 this season.
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Miami comes into the game with a 21-6 record this season and they are ranked in the top 10 in a number of important categories, including scoring on offense, points allowed and assists per game. The team is scoring over 100 points per game and are allowing just 97 to rank sixth in the league and they have been impressive moving the ball around, ranking third in the league in assists per game and while they are ranked 30th in rebounding, it hasn't stopped the team from being one of the best in the east.
The Lakers are coming into the game at 13-15 and the team comes into the game after a rough loss to the Phoenix Suns and they next will play on the road against the Utah Jazz on Friday night. The team got 19 points from Nick Young and four assists from Jodie Meeks and the team comes in ranked 17th in the league in points per game and the same in rebounding and the defense has been off as well, ranking 28th in the league in points allowed. The team is without star power in Kobe Bryant and that may lead this game to being a blowout.