On Nov 10,  the Lakers faced off against the Miami Heat. At the time the Heat were the number one seed in the eastern conference. The Lakers were only in the eighth spot of the western conference. That meant that this was a must win game in order to stop any further damage to their record. This was not gonna be an easy matchup for them though. They would have to face the newly formed Heat with Kyle Lowry now on the team. With players like Lebron James and Rajon Rondo out, the Lakers would have to work together more than ever in order to get this win.

Role Players Stepping Up

Only having nine players in the Lakers rotation meant that every single one of them would have to contribute. If they all are able to do that then they have a shot to win and that is just what happened. Players like Malik Monk and Avery Bradley stepped up big time this game. Monk had a team high of 27 points along with 6 rebounds and 3 assists off the bench. This was a big spark plug for the Lakers to show them that they could win this game. Bradley had 17 points with 3 rebounds and 2 assists. It’s not the craziest stat line but it is just what the Lakers need out of their role players.

Injuries Impact

Even though they won this game which is kind of just a short term achievement for them. The thing they should be worried about is all the players they have on the injury list. They have a total of six players on that list. This includes veterans like Lebron James and Trevor Ariza as well as some young stars like Talen Horton-Tucker and Austin Reaves. This will probably hurt the Lakers short term but what they should be focused on is their long term game plan. Which should be to get these players healthy again. When the Lakers have their full roster then that is when other teams should start to worry because it’s gonna be very hard to stop them.

Carrying the Momentum

For right now the Lakers should use the momentum they got from this game and try to build a little win streak off of it. The more the Lakers win now, the better it will be for them when they have players start to come back from injury. This will give them the best chance to have the highest seed possible in the western conference. Their next game will be against the Minnesota Timberwolves which is gonna be a tough matchup for the Lakers. The Timberwolves have players like Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards. They have been playing super well the past couple games. Edwards is coming off a 48 point performance and Towns has been playing consistently for them. The Lakers will need to come together again in order to win this game.