“A pass-first guy who can lead the league in scoring" - Miami Heat coach Eric Spoelstra in awe of his former star player LeBron James' scoring tear this season 

Miami Heat coach Eric Spoelstra heaped praise on his former player LeBron James ahead of his team's match against the LA Lakers on Sunday. James, who is widely considered a 'pass-first' guy, is in contention to win his second career scoring title this season. The Lakers' star is averaging 29 points per contest, shooting 51.8% from the field thus far.

Spoelstra, who won two NBA championships as a coach with LeBron James as his star player, applauded the 'King's' fine form by saying (via Mike Trudell):

“A pass first guy who can lead the league in scoring … that’s pretty amazing.”

James' scoring average this year is his best since the 2009-10 season when he was with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The four-time MVP ranks second behind Kevin Durant in the race for the league's scoring title with a minor differential of 0.3 points between the two.

LA Lakers lose to Miami Heat despite LeBron James' 21st 30 point-outing of the season.

LeBron James once again put in a stellar performance for the LA Lakers, but his team failed to win against the Miami Heat. James scored 33 points on the night, his 21st game of the season scoring 30 or more points, in their 113-107 loss. At one point, LA conceded a 26-point lead following another slow start to the match.

The Lakers did well in mounting a comeback, cutting their deficit down to only four points with under a minute left, hoping to somehow come away with a victory. However, the Miami Heat played solid defense during a crucial play on an in-bound pass from Talen Horton-Tucker, which resulted in them extending that lead to six points and sealing the win.

The Lakers have now lost 11 games in which LeBron James has scored at least 30 points. That has pretty much been their story of the season, as the rest of the team has failed to contribute well consistently. LA has now dropped to 23-24 for the campaign as they continue to hover around the .500 mark.

James and the rest of the Lakers are hoping that Anthony Davis returns to the lineup soon. Davis's return will bolster the team defensively and allow Frank Vogel to utilize the lineup he had planned to deploy when he had a healthy roster at his disposal.

It will be interesting to see if the Lakers can avoid the play-in tournament and finish in the top six of the Western Conference standings. From the looks of it, the race for an automatic playoff berth seems tight at the moment, with only four games separating the sixth-placed Nuggets and tenth-placed Trail Blazers.