MIAMI — LeBron James was sitting at his locker after the game, a bottle of cold medicine at his side.
The Los Angeles Lakers would be hard-pressed to believe it was needed.
James shook off flu-like symptoms to put up 31 points, eight rebounds and eight assists — hours after being told to stay away from the team’s shootaround practice after calling in with a cough and chest congestion — and the Miami Heat topped the Lakers 98-87 on Thursday night. Chris Bosh scored 15 for Miami, which won its second straight after a three-game slide.
“A chest cold can get to you at times,” James said. “But I felt like I could help the team.”
Shane Battier scored 11 and led the way defensively on Kobe Bryant. Mario Chalmers finished with 10 for Miami, which led by as many as 23 points and improved to 5-1 at home. Miami moved to 5-0 without Dwyane Wade, who missed his second straight game with a sprained right ankle.
Pau Gasol scored a season-high 26 for the Lakers, and Bryant scored 24 — 14 of them in the fourth quarter.
“We tried to adjust to some things,” said Bryant, who had a four-game stretch of scoring at least 40 points this month followed by a two-game total of 38 since. “We might want to go back to some of the things that we were doing a few weeks ago.”
Bryant put together a great late run, banking in a 3-pointer and following that seconds later with a steal and transition dunk that got the Lakers within 94-84 with two minutes left. But Derek Fisher’s 3-point try on the next Los Angeles possession hit the front of the rim, Udonis Haslem controlled the rebound and James made a 15-foot runner to seal the outcome.
