SALT LAKE CITY — It’s only been a few times so far this season, but the question the Lakers face whenever they’re without LeBron James is how will they fare offensively without their star forward.
So far this season: fairly well, with Saturday’s matchup against the Utah Jazz not being any different despite Anthony Davis struggling with his shot (15 points on 5-of-21 shooting).
But as has been the case recently, it was the other end of the floor where the Lakers struggled, with the team falling to the red-hot Jazz 132-125 at Delta Center to continue their slide since winning the In-Season Tournament over a month ago.
And there wasn’t a play that encapsulated the Lakers’ recent struggles than the one that allowed the Jazz to take an 11-point lead in the fourth – their largest lead of the game.
After Christian Wood forced Jordan Clarkson to miss a layup, Anthony Davis rebounded the ball inside the paint and connected with D’Angelo Russell on a hit-ahead pass past halfcourt to spark a transition opportunity.
Russell drew two defenders near the rim, but his pass to a trailing Skylar Mays was off target, leading to Lauri Markkanen grabbing the steal, passing to Clarkson near the 3-point line, with Clarkson throwing a lob to Collin Sexton for an alley-oop to give the Jazz a 120-109 lead with 4:19 remaining.
The Lakers (19-21) kept fighting but didn’t cut their deficit any lower than seven in the final four minutes for their sixth loss in their last eight games and 12th in their last 17.
The Jazz (21-20), who were led by Markkanen’s 29 points, nine rebounds and five assists, moved to above .500 for the first time this season with the victory, their 14th win in their last 18 games.
The Lakers were rolling pretty much all game offensively, scoring at least 28 points in every quarter, including 39 in the first – the most points they’ve scored in an opening quarter this season.
D’Angelo Russell, who scored a season-high 39 points on 15-of-26 shooting to go with eight assists and two blocks, had one of his best games of the season.
The Lakers’ bench, led by the returning Rui Hachimura (17 points) and Christian Wood (15 points and nine rebounds) helped make up for James’ absence and Davis’s struggles.
But the Lakers’ transition defense (23 points allowed off 12 turnovers and 27 fastbreak points allowed) and fouling (23 fouls, 39 free throws attempted for the Jazz) upended them.
In addition to his scoring total, Davis also had a career-high 11 assists to go with 15 rebounds for the second triple-double of his career.
Austin Reaves had 19 points in 31 minutes before fouling out with 5:03 remaining. Cam Reddish played 11 first-half minutes before being ruled out for the second half because of left knee soreness. It was the second consecutive game Reddish missed a second half because of the knee ailment.
The Lakers will return to Los Angeles for another six games in Southern California (one a “road game” against the Clippers), starting with hosting the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday.
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