EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — That was weird. And unexpected. And, surprisingly, a Lakers loss.

The reasons were many, but above all was Jimmy Butler’s effort.

The veteran forward had 40 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds Sunday as the severely depleted Miami Heat won Game 3 of the NBA Finals, 115-104.

It was surely the best game of Butler’s career if time, place and circumstance were factored into the equation.

Miami sliced the Lakers’ series lead to 2-1 despite no Bam Adebayo (strained neck) and no Goran Dragic (torn plantar fascia in left foot).

Butler was driven from the start, but the Lakers helped the Heat in a big way by committing 20 turnovers, a numbing 16 in the first three quarters.

The Lakers’ two best players led the way, so to speak, in coughing up the ball. LeBron James had eight turnovers and Anthony Davis had five.

Did overconfidence lead to all those turnovers? Or maybe allowing Butler’s big night?

“I’m not going to say complacency,” forward Kyle Kuzma said. “That’s not the type of group we have. We just had a few mental slips for sure.”

The Lakers had other areas of concern.

Davis was their best player in the first two games. Then came Game 3.

He struggled with foul trouble early and was never a factor, finishing with a very quiet 15 points.

His herky-jerky night began when he picked up two fouls in the first nine minutes and went to the bench. He was hit with his fourth foul early in the third quarter, which surely impacted his defensive mind-set. He was a minus-26 in the plus-minus category, a poor stat for a typically strong defensive player.

In addition to too many turnovers, Davis wasn’t very strong in the rebounding department (only five) and didn’t block a shot in 33 minutes.

He wasn’t the only Lakers player who struggled.

Starting Lakers guards Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Danny Green endured a rough shooting night for a second consecutive game.

Green missed all six of his shots and scored a mere two points. Caldwell-Pope wasn’t much better, scoring five points on one-for-five shooting.

Two days earlier, the duo combined to score only 14 points on five-for-22 shooting in Game 2.

The Lakers are still overwhelming favorites to win the series. Especially if Adebayo or Dragic remain sidelined Tuesday for Game 4.

But Sunday was a step back, a reminder that greatness must show up no matter what the other team’s roster looks like.