The circumstances the Lakers encountered on Wednesday night were identical to those they encountered almost a month prior: facing the Utah Jazz on the road without LeBron James.
However, the Lakers performed much better this time around compared to their Jan. 13 defeat, mostly due to a strong third quarter anchored by career-high 36-point scorer Rui Hachimura and 37-point scorer Anthony Davis. In their last game before the All-Star break, they prevailed 138-122, their sixth victory in seven games.
The Lakers are now four games over.500 (30-26) for the first time since they were 15-11 on December 15. They have won three straight games and 11 of their last 16 games.
Coach Darvin Ham described tonight’s victory as a “quality of life win.” “Leaving with the knowledge that some of our key players will return, strengthening our lineup and making us deeper and stronger. After that, they will be able to witness our current play and the overlap between the topics we discussed and demonstrated in the film, which will be applied to our breakdowns during practice and shootaround, and eventually to the game. Everyone is in sync and knows exactly what has to be done to win on both sides of the ball.
The Lakers dominated the first half and led by as much as 14 points (50–36), but at halftime, they gave up ground to the Jazz, who were down 70–69. Utah continued to build on its early advantage, scoring the opening five points of the third quarter and maintaining a little edge.
“To come in here and get a win like that is difficult,” Austin Reaves said. Clearly, a significant portion of what we do would not be possible without Bron. However, I believed we did a great job sticking to the plan. We never applied pressure on it. All we did was play the game correctly. An excellent performance.
With a season-high 11 assists, Davis took advantage of the Jazz’s lack of attempts to double or blitz him like they had in their last meeting.
The Lakers led 108-92 entering the fourth quarter thanks to the All-Star big man’s 17 points in the third quarter.
The Lakers ended the third quarter with a 12-0 run that gave them a game-high 16-point lead. Reaves’ 3-pointer put the Lakers ahead 99-92, and Davis’ putback dunk and subsequent two free throws increased the lead to 103-92. Taurean Prince’s 11-point jumper gave the Lakers a 13-point lead, and Reaves’ (22 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists) and-one layup made the difference to 16.
Davis once led a 30-point run in which he scored 10 points in a row. When he played in Utah before, he shot a career-worst 5 for 21. This time, he finished 13 for 25 from the field and 10 for 13 from the free-throw line. He was almost unstoppable on jumpers, spinning drives, and putbacks.
“Scоring the bаsketbаll is my tоp priоrity,” sаid Dаvis. Secоnd, third, fоurth, аnd fifth аre the remаining оnes. Rui hаs it gоing, sо it’s evident thаt it’s simpler when everyоne dоes. When me𝚗 аre mаking shоts, it is difficult fоr them tо dоuble-teаm. I аttempt tо cаpitаlize оn it аnd scоre, hоwever, when they put lаrger plаyers оn me аnd dоn’t try tо dоuble.
After scoring 30 points only four times in his five-year career coming into Wednesday, Hachimura equaled that with a turnaround jumper over Walker Kessler to give the Lakers a 121-107 lead with 6:25 remaining in the game.
Hachimura’s career-high of 33 points was reached when Davis helped him with a 3-pointer later in the fourth quarter to put the Lakers up 124-107. D’Angelo Russell then helped Hachimura with another 3-pointer to make the score 134-113.
Ham described Hachimura as being in a good place. With his teammates, he’s enjoying himself. enjoying the game to the fullest. He was definitely aware of our encouragement for him. To be great, we need Rui to be great. We have him as one of our key players, and when he plays well, along with our arsenal of weapons, we’re a formidable squad.
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Russell said, “The game will present something.” “Rui was assertive; [Reaves] got us going right away. If you can capitalize on that and keep it going, the game will open up for everyone.” They let me score the last time I played here. They performed a fantastic job this time, and I just passed the ball.
After 52 field goals, the Lakers concluded with 34 assists.
With 2:27 left, both teams removed their starting lineups, with the Lakers leading 136-113 on a Reaves layup.
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The Jazz (26-29) have lost nine of their last 13 games and are no longer in the running for the last play-in place in the Western Conference. Collin Sexton led six players in double digits with 18 points. Lauri Markkanen contributed 16 and Jordan Clarkson scored 17.