EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Not even a return home from a wildly unpredictable December could help the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Miami Heat employed a zone defense that completely stymied the road-weary Lakers in a 110-96 victory Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena.

A lot of the same suspects were part of the Lakers’ loss: poor three-point shooting, too many turnovers and scoring lapses for several minutes.

It felt like a wasted night for a team starting a home-friendly portion of the schedule with 10 of 11 games at Crypto.com Arena.

There were accurately critical words from Lakers center Anthony Davis after the game. He did his part on the court — 29 points, 17 rebounds and five blocked shots — and then dove into what ailed the team.

“Every game, especially on this home stand, should be like a must-win to us,” Davis said after the Lakers (17-18) fell below .500 for the first time in almost two months while dropping to 10th place in the Western Conference.

“If we keep on this trend, it’s not going to be good for us. It’s kind of obvious that we’ve got to figure it out sooner [rather] than later. Guys being out is not an excuse for us. Like coach said, we’ve got enough guys in this locker room to win.”

There was another slow start with a splash of unwanted Lakers history after they tied a team record with 10 turnovers in the first quarter.

There was more uneven shooting from three-point range, the Lakers going four for 30 behind the arc for a surreally low 13.3% as Miami hung back in a zone defense. In a continuing sign of frustration for the Lakers, the Heat scored 36 more points than them from three-point range.

“They dared us to make shots, which we didn’t,” Davis said.

LeBron James left without talking to reporters, a rarity for him. He made only six of 18 shots and scored a mere 12 points, his lowest total in at least 35 minutes since February 2016.

The Lakers fell to 3-9 since winning the NBA’s in-season tournament in more jubilant times a few weeks ago.

“Too many turnovers. Our attention to detail was not good…not high enough to win basketball games right now,” Davis said. “When you constantly turn the ball over. It’s deflating. Can’t even get a shot at the rim.”

The Heat had 14 steals while the Lakers had only three.

Tyler Herro had 21 points for Miami, which played without perennial All-Star Jimmy Butler because of a foot injury. The Lakers could claim being short-handed as well, going without D’Angelo Russell (bruised tailbone), Rui Hachimura (strained calf) and Gabe Vincent (torn knee cartilage).

The Heat had eight players log meaningful minutes. All eight scored in double figured, an impressive display of balanced offense.

Meanwhile, Lakers starters Cam Reddish and Taurean Prince combined for zero points and five turnovers in 48 minutes.

On a good note for the Lakers, Davis was absolutely dominant at both ends of the court, yet again, and Austin Reaves scored 24 points in his return to the starting lineup in place of Hachimura.

Reaves gave an understandably bleak assessment of the aura in the Lakers’ locker room after the game.

“We’re losing. Any time you lose, the vibe should be off,” he said. “I don’t expect for us to be happy with how we’ve played.”