The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, 129-110, and they will take on the Miami Heat on Wednesday. That means LeBron James will return to one of his old stomping grounds.
When asked if he was going to play in Wednesday’s contest, given it is the second leg of a back-to-back for the Lakers, James seemed noncommittal.
LeBron on if he'll play in Miami tomorrow: "I'll know tomorrow when I get up."
— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) December 28, 2022
James scored 28 points on 12-of-24 shooting while adding seven rebounds and five assists in the win over the Magic. It ended his streak of seven consecutive games with at least 30 points..
The four-time MVP has been playing some remarkable basketball in the month of December after a sluggish October and November. Unfortunately, it hasn’t resulted in enough wins for the Lakers, as Anthony Davis has been out with a stress reaction in his foot.
James, of course, played four seasons with the Heat earlier in his career. When he arrived in Miami in the summer of 2010, he had yet to win an NBA championship and had only known playoff failure, as he had experienced several meek postseason defeats in seven seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But he immediately turned the Heat into championship contenders. Along with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, he led them to the NBA Finals in each of his four seasons there and back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013.
Although Miami returned to the championship series in 2020, ironically against James’ Lakers, it has yet to win it all since James’ departure in 2014.
This season, the Heat have been struggling inexplicably. They narrowly lost in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last season. Yet, with virtually the same core roster, they’re just 17-17 on the season. They rank near the bottom of the barrel in both offensive rating and points per game.
A win over the Heat would greatly help stop the bleeding for the Lakers as they near the midway point of the season.
