LOS ANGELES — As he spoke before Sunday night’s game at Crypto.com Arena, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra attempted to put perspective on his team’s early-season scoring binge, emphasizing that defense remains the team’s touchstone.
It hardly looked that way over the first three quarters Sunday night, with the Los Angeles Lakers putting up 43 points in the first quarter, 77 by halftime, and 102 through three quarters.
Yes, the Heat were again without sidelined Tyler Herro and Norman Powell, but this 130-120 loss was not about missing firepower. It was more about an inability to contain the Lakers for extended stretches.
There was a fight back from 18 points down—just as there was a rally in what turned into Thursday night’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs at the start of this four-game trip—but again, it was not enough.
So, the Heat sit at 3-3 through six games, even with a quality defensive effort against Luka Doncic. Doncic, who had scored at least 40 in each of his previous three appearances this season, closed with 29 points this time. He rounded out his triple-double with 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. led the Heat with 31 points. The Heat also got 17 points and eight rebounds from Bam Adebayo, 17 points and six assists from Pelle Larsson, and 15 points and nine rebounds from Andrew Wiggins.
### Five Degrees of Heat from Sunday Night’s Game:
**1. Game Flow**
The Lakers led 43-36 after the first period, shooting an impressive .636, while the Heat went 1 of 8 on 3-pointers in that quarter. After building an 18-point lead, the Lakers took a 77-63 lead into halftime, fueled in part by nine Heat turnovers in the first half. Los Angeles also dominated inside, closing the half shooting 18 of 20 in the paint.
The Heat clawed back within 102-98 by the end of the third quarter. From there, the Lakers pushed to a 10-point lead midway through the fourth quarter on a driving Doncic layup and held on for the win.
**2. Jaquez Again**
Jaquez proved to be a spark off the bench once more, scoring six points in his first two minutes and closing the opening period with 10 points, including 4 of 5 from the foul line. His energy was so needed that he was subbed back in after only 1:29 of rest.
He finished the first half with 16 points and four rebounds in 17 minutes. Jaquez then started the second half in place of Kel’el Ware and was up to 20 points with 7:53 left in the third period. He shot an efficient 11 of 16 from the field and 9 of 13 from the foul line.
**3. The Flip Side**
As energetic as Jaquez was, Ware was largely the opposite. His uneven performance in his opening 5:53 stint kept him off the court for the rest of the first half, where he went -10 in plus-minus.
Spoelstra had injected Ware into his starting lineup early in the season to better balance minutes in the power rotation, but Nikola Jovic and Simone Fontecchio have instead been preferred options.
Of the nine Heat players who saw action in the first half, Ware played the fewest minutes—fewer even than Dru Smith. To his credit, Ware showed more energy in his second stint, which began late in the third quarter.
**4. 3-For-(Not) All**
The Heat opened the game shooting just 1 of 12 on 3-pointers, with that lone conversion coming from Ware following a missed Wiggins attempt. After that, Fontecchio and Jovic each missed three 3-point attempts, while Adebayo, Wiggins, Larsson, and Smith each missed one.
The Heat’s second 3-pointer came on a Fontecchio shot with 5:20 left in the second period. They closed the first half shooting 5 of 17 from beyond the arc.
Before the game, the Heat ranked fifth in the league in 3-point percentage at .405. Through it all, Adebayo extended his career-best streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 18 games, dating back to last season.
**5. Powell Sits**
Sunday’s game marked the first of the Heat’s 15 back-to-back sets this season. The question arose whether the preference was to rest Powell one more game with his groin strain in preparation for Monday night’s matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers, his former team.
“I think it’s a little of taking your time, fighting it out, going day by day,” Powell said of his approach to the injury he sustained during the shootaround the morning of last Tuesday’s home victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
“It’s nothing you want to force, because with those types of injuries it can be worse by trying to push through everything. So I think it’s definitely taking a little bit of caution and making sure everything is OK.
“A minor injury—you don’t want to risk it turning into something bigger, especially earlier in the season. So it’s better to make sure everything is right and that I’m good to go.”
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The Heat will look to bounce back Monday night as they head into their matchup against the Clippers with hopes of solidifying their defense and finding consistent offensive flow.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/11/03/heat-get-31-from-jaquez-but-unable-to-contain-lakers-fall-to-3-3-with-130-120-loss/
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