Last night's Miami Heat vs. Los Angeles Lakers game had an exciting finish as Kobe Bryant tried to shoulder the scoring load to keep the Lakers in a close game, but in the end LeBron James was just too much for the Lakers to handle.
James demonstrated to the Lakers that even though they possess all this scoring power and have a solid team on paper, still, the Heat are the defending champions for a reason.
James had 39 points and eight assists, Dwyane Wade added 27 points on his 31st birthday and the Heat held off the Lakers 99-90 Thursday night, scoring the final nine points to finish their six-game road trip in style.
"We closed out the trip the right way, and we want to build from it," James said. "We wanted to do much better, of course, after the way we started, losing to Indiana and Portland."
Well the Heat did just that earning their second win in their last eight games at Staples Center against the Lakers.
The Lakers challenged the champs, but James closed out the Heat's sixth road game in 10 days with a plethora lashing cuts and dunks, while solidly playing defense against the league's leading scorer in Bryant.
Bryant scored 13 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter for Los Angeles. Dwight Howard had 13 points and 16 rebounds, but missed two key free throws with 1:51 left while Miami pulled away, capping the All-Star starting center's 5-for-13 effort at the line.
"It's not much of a setback," Bryant said. "They played very well. They obviously have a familiarity, been playing together, and they know where they want to be in their spots. They executed down the stretch. LeBron made some tough shots."
Howard added:
"LeBron is going to get his points, but if we control Dwyane and Chris Bosh, we have a better chance of winning," Howard said. "Tonight, D-Wade, he had it going on the offensive end."
The Lakers as a team committed 20 turnovers against the Heat and were held scoreless in the final 2 ½ minutes.
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