JJ Redick did it Wednesday morning, reminding his Lakers of the importance of connectivity and communication.

He told them again at the arena, his team about to take on the Miami Heat and their streaking scorer Tyler Herro, who is in the middle of a dominant run.

And it just didn’t take.

Herro, just like he did when the Heat blew out the Lakers in Miami, was too open, too often, ripping shot after shot through the net — the kind of stretch that had his coach recently comparing him to Stephen Curry. The Lakers were lost on defense. It made them lifeless on offense.

By halftime, they were down big.

So, for at least the third time Wednesday, Redick told his players what he needed from them. They had to talk on defense. They had to defend together. And if they didn’t, they were almost certain to face their fourth loss in a row.

“There was nothing we changed schematically,” he said. “I implored our team to talk more and play harder.”

And, finally, it sunk in.

“It was just the message we needed,” guard Austin Reaves said. “And I think most importantly, it got through to the group.”

The Lakers swarmed on defense, diving for loose balls and forcing turnovers. They shared the ball on offense against Miami’s zone, dissecting it with precision cutting and zipped passes. And when it was time to close out the Heat, the Lakers leaned on LeBron James to put the finishing touches on a 117-108 win, their first since Jan. 3.

As the team found itself in the third quarter, Anthony Davis dove for a loose ball. Reaves triggered a fast break. Rui Hachimura attacked the paint, and James ended up with a wide-open three — the kind of play that showed Redick that all the emphasizing he’d done throughout the day had taken hold.

“I challenged the team across the board today in our meeting about leadership,” he said. “And leadership — people think about talking, obviously being vocal, talking in the huddles, whatever it may be. That certainly is a form of leadership. But leadership takes many forms. And I think talk is a requirement of the job as a basketball player. Talk is a requirement of the job.

“But leadership can be playing hard defensively. Leadership can be taking a charge. Leadership can be taking care of the basketball. It’s all about leadership and ownership for what you are supposed to do. That’s your job. That’s leadership to me. And that’s a great example to me of leadership from AD — being the first to the floor in a tight game. It’s a momentum-swinging play for us.”

The Lakers outscored Miami 63-42 in the second half after being blitzed by San Antonio in the third and fourth quarters Monday night.

Wednesday’s win in a lot of ways was a sign of growth, the Lakers taking accountability for the things they hadn’t been doing, getting balanced production from multiple players and winning because they didn’t ignore the little things.

Hachimura led the Lakers with 23 points. James, who scored seven straight points down the stretch, had 22 and nine assists. Davis finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks.

Max Christie scored 16 and Reaves had 14 points, 14 assists and three steals.

“No matter if we’re up or we’re down, we can’t be front-runners,” Davis said. “And when we’re up, just that’s when we’re connected. Even when we’re down, that’s when we have to be the most connected. I think tonight, even in that second quarter, when they went on that run, we were still able to be connected. We came into halftime, made adjustments, stayed together and were able to go out in the second half and get stops.”

Gabe Vincent sparked the Lakers with 14 points off the bench against his former team, and Jaxson Hayes had his best game since returning from an ankle injury on Jan. 2.

And while Redick’s message might’ve landed Wednesday, it was the players’ execution against the Heat that got the Lakers (21-17) a win they badly needed.

“There’s power with the group and there’s power in being connected,” Redick said. “And there’s a lot of things that go wrong in every single basketball game, and you have to stay connected. And I thought we did a fantastic job of that tonight.

“Our coaching staff, all of them, they did a great job. But it was our players tonight. Like, I gotta give them credit. They stayed the course. They stayed connected. They showed resolve. It was them tonight.”