Lebron James became the third player in NBA history to score 30 points and shoot at least 60 percent in five consecutive games as the Lakers dropped to 9-18 on the road and fell four games out of the playoffs. Both Dwyane Wade and James shot exact 12 of 18 each, and using the NBA’s Efficiency Rating (below), they were both better than Kobe Bryant, and Chris Bosh was almost as good as Dwight Howard underneath in the 107-97 win.
The Lakers led for much of the first half as they buried three-pointers, but they were never able to keep the smaller Heat off of the glass. Normally, Miami has not been as dominant against bigger teams, but Bosh outrebounded Howard 11-9 and the Heat outrebounded the Lakers overall 38-29.
Wade and James were in complete rhythem on fadeaways, making them almost impossible to stop with the duel ability to drive to the rim.
They provided plenty of highlights, including Wade saving a loose ball under the Lakers basket, whipping a pass behind his back onto the court. The play started a quick break down the court and dunk. He also pulled off his patented pump fake and seemed destined to get two shots as he crashed to the floor, but he somehow released the ball as he was crumbling to the floor and hit the shot as well. However, it was James who simply overpowered the Lakers for dunks and moves to the hoop.
Bryant had an incredible game as well, hitting almost as well from the floor (11 of 19) as Wade and James and having another huge assists night with a game-high 9. Using the NBA Effiency Ratings that coaches use to evaluate their players, all three hit the incredibly high plateau of 30 – but James and Wade were slightly better than Bryant at 35 and 31. The table of all players is below. The Rating is determined by adding all the figures with a “+” by them on the table below (Field Goals Made, Free Throws Made, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, Blocks and Points) and then subtracting every item with a minus sign next to it (Field Goals Attempted, Free Throws Attempted and Turnovers) to get the “Efficiency” Rating to the right.
| Player, Position | Team | FGM+ | FGA- | FTM+ | FTA- | Reb+ | Ast+ | Stl+ | Blk+ | TO- | Pts+ | Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LeBron James, SF | Heat | 12 | 18 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 32 | 35 |
| Dwyane Wade, SG | Heat | 12 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 30 | 31 |
| Kobe Bryant, SG | Lakers | 11 | 19 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 28 | 30 |
| Dwight Howard, C | Lakers | 6 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 21 |
| Chris Bosh, C | Heat | 6 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 20 |
| Earl Clark, SF | Lakers | 8 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 19 |
| Mario Chalmers, PG | Heat | 6 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 16 |
| Steve Nash, PG | Lakers | 3 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 15 |
| Shane Battier, SF | Heat | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 12 |
| Norris Cole, PG | Heat | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 8 |
| Jodie Meeks, SG | Lakers | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| Udonis Haslem, PF | Heat | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Chris Andersen, PF | Heat | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Steve Blake, PG | Lakers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Metta World Peace, SF | Lakers | 3 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 3 |
| Joel Anthony, C | Heat | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Antawn Jamison, PF | Lakers | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Ray Allen, SG | Heat | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -1 |
| Rashard Lewis, PF | Heat | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -2 |
| Team Total | Heat | 44 | 80 | 13 | 14 | 38 | 19 | 10 | 6 | 11 | 107 | 132 |
| Team Total | Lakers | 35 | 70 | 20 | 26 | 29 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 14 | 97 | 99 |
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