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The Lakers (5-2) will welcome the Miami Heat (2-4) to town on Monday for their first meeting of the season. Both teams enter this matchup coming off wins.
Start time and TV schedule
Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Miami Heat
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When: 7 p.m. PT, Nov. 2
Where: Crypto.com Arena
Watch: Spectrum Sportsnet
In case you didn’t know, the Lakers have three sets of back-to-back games this month, starting with Sunday and Monday. The purple and gold will face a Miami team that has won two straight games after opening the season with four consecutive losses. Miami also has the rest advantage in this one after having had two consecutive nights off.
That factor alone makes this a challenging game for Los Angeles, yet it’s one that they can conquer. The spotlight will obviously be on Luka Dončić and Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the key to victory will be which team can do a better job of limiting the other’s superstar.
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The Greek Freak is averaging 28.2 points, 12.3 rebounds and 5.5 assists to begin the year. The Lakers’ frontcourt will also have to look out for Bam Adebayo, who is coming off his best performance yet with 27 points in the win against the Indiana Pacers. This frontcourt duo is what makes the Heat a tricky matchup.
That’s why it’ll be interesting to see how head coach JJ Redick game plans against Antetokounmpo and Adebayo. Ideally, the Lakers also expose the Heat’s lack of shooting, defensive inconsistencies and the shortage of production from their role players. It’ll be nice to see Dončić — who just had his best all-around game of the season in Sunday’s victory — remain hot and torch the Heat defense.
Speaking of things that would be nice to see, the Lakers’ minutes without their Slovenian superstar on the floor will be crucial. Against the Raptors, it didn’t matter so much because Dončić and co. were able to open up a huge early lead.
However, this Heat team is different in a sense that they have more firepower than the Raptors. Contributions from across the board will be necessary and that’s where the Lakers’ bench and shooters need to step up.
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Facing Miami is an early test to see…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/lakers-vs-heat-preview-luka-070121717.html
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Publish date : 2026-11-02 07:01:00
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