February 10th, 2008
American Airlines Arena
Miami, FL

Boxscore: http://www.nba.com/games/20080210/LAL...

Statline: 33 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 10-15 FG, 2-5 3 pt, 11-11 FT, locks down D-WOAT, held to 19 points, 7-17 FG, 9 turnovers

The Miami Heat had traded former star center Shaquille O'neal to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks just days ago. Today was Shawn Marion's debut with the Miami Heat, a game against the much improved Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant. But the center of attention in the game was the matchup between the 2 allstars Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade, 2006 Finals MVP.

Early in the game, both players were quiet. Bryant had 5 points on 2-3 shooting and Wade had 2 points on 1-6 shooting. It wasn't the same way in the 2nd half. Turning his game on in the 2nd half, Bryant shot 6-10 with an aggressive mindset while shutting down Wade at the other end. Wade continued to struggle putting up 9 turnovers. He also had an airball, was dropped by Sasha Vujacic, and was outmatched by Bryant's lockdown defense which was at it's finest at the end of the 3rd quarter. Bryant frustrated Wade to the point he commited a hard foul on Bryant on a fastbreak dunk attempt. He committed a hard foul that could have and should have been a flagrant foul had it been another player and not Wade. It was a foul that also could have been a suspension.

Even the preferential treatment of Dwyane Wade was no match for Kobe Bryant's dominance. Examples of preferential treatment is the first foul on Bryant, a fly by on a three point attempt by Wade, and a foul on Lamar Odom on an attempted layup by Wade. Despite several other attempts by the refs to bring Miami back into the game, the Lakers prevailed and enjoyed a 104-94 victory over the Miami Heat who fell to 9-40. The Los Angeles Lakers improved to 33-17 and 3-1 with Pau Gasol.

Extra tags: fadeaway free throws marc cuban lakers pau gasol dunk steal jumpshot