It was the first time James won against Miami since leaving the team after the 2014 N. B. A. finals.
MIAMI — There was a time when LeBron James being pestered by Lance Stephenson would have worked out wonderfully for the Miami Heat.
Sunday was not one of those times.
It was late in the game, the outcome was decided, and Stephenson — James’s former rival and now his teammate with the Los Angeles Lakers — challenged him to finish the game off with a 3-pointer.
“I bet you won’t go for the 3,” Stephenson said.
The Heat probably wish that conversation never took place. James capped his 51-point night with a 32-foot 3-pointer in the final seconds, pointed at Stephenson to let him know he was wrong, and the Lakers rolled past the Heat, 113-97, for their seventh win in nine games.
James reached 50 for the 13th time in his career, including Game 1 of last season’s N. B. A. finals.
“It’s just playing with greatness,” Lakers guard Lonzo Ball said. “Tonight, he took the game over.”
James shot 19 for 31 from the field, 6 for 8 from 3-point range, became the seventh player to score at least 51 in a game against Miami, and started his two-game reunion tour in sensational fashion. The Lakers’ next game is Wednesday night in Cleveland, the only place besides Miami and Los Angeles that James has called home as a professional.
“It’s always great to be here,” said James, who hugged a slew of familiar faces in the arena he used to call home. “We had some not-so-good times, we had more great times, so it’s always a respect factor and a love for the people in Miami and especially the people who work here.”
And finally, he left Miami a winner again. Since leaving the Heat after the 2014 N. B. A. finals, James was 0-4 against Miami; his teams were 0-7, including the three Cleveland-Miami games that he missed.
While James put on a show, the Heat threw a shoe.
It was Miami’s fourth straight home loss. and frustrations boiled over. Josh Richardson was ejected in the fourth quarter after throwing one of his sneakers into the stands, upset about a call against him.
Wayne Ellington scored 19 points for Miami (6-10), which is off to its second-worst start in the last 12 years. The Heat were 5-11 at this point of the 2016-17 season, the only other time they have been worse after 16 games in 12 years.
“We’re going to get to work,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Miami has not forgotten James, obviously — he still receives loud cheers when introduced in his former home arena — but just in case anyone in attendance needed a reminder of his game, he delivered. He made eight of his first nine shots and had the whole arsenal working: dunks in transition, step-back 3-pointers, turnarounds from the baseline.
“When he’s hitting shots like that, what do you want us to do?” Heat center Hassan Whiteside said.
Even with James’s greatness, the biggest shot for the Lakers might have come from Brandon Ingram with 3 minutes 46 seconds left. Miami had clawed to eight points behind and the shot clock was about to expire on the Lakers, but Ingram connected on a long jumper from the left wing to make it 104-94.
From there, the only drama was whether James would get 50 points. And he did.
“Just give him the ball,” Lakers guard Kyle Kuzma said, “and get out of the way.”
