Lakers Can't Withstand the Heat this Christmas

The Los Angeles Lakers were without their leading man this Christmas, with Kobe Bryant still about 5 weeks away from returning to the lineup.

The Lakers played a pretty good game for not having their 15-time All-Star shooting guard. Kobe ended his 16-game Christmas game appearances because of his knee injury. The Lakers bench played great as they have been all season, putting up 37 points to the Heats 16 points from the bench, midway thru the 3rd quarter. The so-cal kid Nick Young has been trying his best at his Kobe impersonation in the meantime, he was the Lakers leading scorer with 20 points and also the Lakers leading shot taker going 7-for-18, which was also 4 more shots than anybody else on the team (Pau Gasol and Jodie Meeks each had 12 shot attempts). Young put up 12 points in the 3rd quarter, and the Lakers at one point held a lead of 10 points and never trailed by more than that. With this being the 14th different starting lineup for the Lakers in 29 games they actually are playing a lot better than one would think just from looking at their record.

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh were the leading scorers for the Heat, with both putting up 23 points, LeBron had 19. Bosh was the only Heat player to gain a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds, he was also the leading shot taker for the Heat, going 9-for-18. The game was pretty close throughout but you could kind of tell that the Heat were not taking the game as serious as the Lakers. The Heat were in complete control of the game and finally pulled away in the final 5 minutes or so.

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

This was the Miami Heat's 6th straight win and their 5th straight Christmas victory, going back to the pre-LeBron/Bosh era, during Michael Beasley's first stint with the Heat. LeBron also seemed to miss having the Lakers star on the court, saying after the game, "It's not as special when Kobe's not out there".





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