Heat without an answer for Doncic’s 42, fall to 2-5 with 138-117 loss to Lakers
· Yahoo Sports
LOS ANGELES — The blueprint for success that the Heat turned to this summer was on display Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.
The problem was it was on display by the opposition.
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Get a great player. Surround with complementary talent. Ride the coattails.
The Lakers did just that in this one, with Luka Doncic, on the scoring roll of his career, powering Los Angeles past the Heat 138-117 with his 42 points.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, landed by the Heat to do the same, ultimately could not keep pace, closing with 30 points.
So the Lakers improved to 6-2, while the Heat fell to 2-5.
Shooting 14 of 24 from the field and 8 of 10 from the foul line, Doncic rounded out his stat line with 13 assists and seven rebounds. He was supported by 27 points from Austin Reaves, with the type of one-two punch the Heat could not counter.
Antetokounmpo rounded out his stat line with 12 rebounds and seven assists.
The Heat also got 19 points from Klay Thompson and 15 from Davion Mitchell, but nothing more than a mundane 16 points and nine rebounds from Bam Adebayo.
Five Degrees of Heat from Monday night’s game:
1. Game flow: The Lakers led 37-30 at the end of the opening period and 79-72 at halftime. The 79 points tied for the most yielded by the Heat in a first half in their 39 seasons.
Mitchell was up to four 3-pointers by halftime, already surpassing his previous season high, closing a 4 of 4 on 3-pointers.
The Lakers then opened the second period with an 11-0 run, pushed their lead into the 20s midway through the third quarter and went into the fourth up 111-93.
2. Luka time: Doncic played as advertised, entering with a league-leading 37.2 scoring average (Stephen Curry was second at 27.6), at 43.8 over his previous four games.
He was up to 16 points by the end of the first period, drawing constant traps and double teams. He stood with 24 points and eight assists at halftime, his fifth consecutive game with at least 20 points in the first half.
Doncic was coming off a 45-point, 15-rebound, five-assist, five-steal performance in Sunday’s home victory over the Toronto Raptors. It was the fourth time in five games that Doncic scored at least 40.
Entering Monday, the only players who had scored more points than Doncic over their first six games of a season were Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, and Jack Twyman.
Doncic also was his usual feisty self, called for a second-period technical foul for complaining about the officiating.
3. Giannis’ night:Antetokounmpo’s efficiency helped the Heat somewhat keep pace with Doncic, up to 20 points, five assists and four rebounds by halftime.
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Heat coach Erik Spoelstra twice in the first half successfully challenged offensive fouls that were called on Antetokounmpo, with the second successful challenge leading to an Antetokounmpo 3-point play.
Antetokounmpo had 24 points entering the fourth quarter, closing at 10 of 17 from the field.
4. Foul start: What started with a first-possession Lakers challenge leading to a foul on Antetokounmpo 27 seconds into the game turned into a foul opening period for the Heat, with Thompson, Mitchell and Bobby Portis each ending the first quarter with two fouls.
The early foul trouble for Mitchell had second-round pick Ryan Conwell, the rookie guard out of Louisville, playing his earliest minutes of the season, with the foul trouble for Portis affording playing time for Nikola Jovic in the first half.
5. Onward:The Heat’s five-game western swing continues Wednesday night against the Clippers, before concluding with games Thursday night against the Golden State Warriors, Sunday against the Sacramento Kings and next Tuesday against the Utah Jazz.
That will be followed by a five-game homestand that spans from Nov. 13 through Nov. 22.