The Miami Heat took the Los Angeles Lakers to town on Wednesday night, but that didn’t stop 2020 NBA champion Dwight Howard from throwing some shade at the winning team.
He brought up the 2020 NBA Finals — which he and the Lakers won over the Heat — in response to Miami’s 41-point win on Wednesday.
The Heat embarrassed the Lakers on Wednesday, coasting to a 134-93 win at home. The Heat used a 31-point game from guard Tyler Herro, a near triple-double from big man Bam Adebayo and a solid showing from forward Jimmy Butler to help secure the win. They also held Lakers big man Anthony Davis to just eight points on 3-for-14 shooting.
The win got Miami back to .500 on the season at 10-10, and the Heat will look to use it as a momentum-builder going into the weekend when they take on the Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers
As for the Lakers, the loss dropped them to 12-10 on the season, extending a rough stretch for a squad that was 10-4 earlier in the campaign.
In the 2020 NBA Finals, the Lakers and Heat met in the Orlando, Fla. bubble. Miami was able to push Los Angeles to six games, but the Purple and Gold ultimately came out on top to claim the championship.
The result gave Howard his first and only NBA title. He started seven games for the Lakers during their playoff run in 2020, including five against the Heat.
Since that series, Los Angeles has yet to return to the NBA Finals. Miami got back to the NBA Finals in 2023, but the team once again fell short, losing to the Denver Nuggets in five games.
The Lakers and Heat are both hoping to make championship pushes this season, but they’re going to have a lot of work to do to win their respective conferences. The two teams will play each other once more in the 2024-25 regular season, with their next matchup scheduled for Jan. 15 in Los Angeles. Howard will surely have his eyes on that game as well.
