NBA game of the week: Heat vs. Lakers

By Ben Bolch

Jan. 12, 2013 12 AM PT

MIAMI AT LAKERS

Thursday, 7:30 p.m. PST.

TV: TNT, TWC SportsNet, TWC Deportes.

Better get a look at this matchup now because it won’t be reprising itself in June.

What was expected to be a possible NBA Finals preview has devolved into nothing more than just another midseason game.

Miami has struggled recently and the Lakers have hit one low after another, the latest coming Friday when productive backup forward Jordan Hill was lost for the season because of a hip injury.

The Lakers could get Dwight Howard (shoulder injury) and Pau Gasol (concussion) back for this game, but the way their season has gone, it may not matter.

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Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

NBA game of the week: Heat vs. Lakers

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