On the second end of a back-to-back and without LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers were thoroughly beaten by the Utah Jazz 139-116 to fall to 2-8 on the season.
Anthony Davis got the scoring started with a roll to the rim, while Troy Brown Jr. scored five quick points to give the Lakers an early 11-8 lead. Jordan Clarkson and the rest of the Jazz began to heat up from the rest of the field, but Davis called his own number to keep the team’s offense afloat.
Russell Westbrook got the crowd buzzing with a dunk in the halfcourt and even knocked down a pair of triples but Los Angeles still faced a five-point deficit. Despite solid defensive showings, Clarkson nailed several tough jumpers to leave the Lakers trailing 42-34 after one.
L.A.’s defensive woes continued into the second quarter as Utah got the looks they wanted each time down and went up by double digits. Davis re-entered the game and immediately picked up where he left off by scoring in the post, cutting the Jazz lead to three.
Austin Reaves was rewarded a couple of times for aggressively attacking the rim, including an and-one opportunity to make it a one-point game. Kendrick Nunn managed to nail a 3-pointer in the final minute of the quarter, but Lauri Markkanen answered on the other end with a three-point play to keep Los Angeles down 76-71 going into the half.
It was another slow start to a third quarter for the Lakers as their defense failed to get many stops, allowing the Jazz to take their biggest lead of the night. Markkanen had his way scoring the basketball, preventing L.A. from making much of a dent in Utah’s lead.
Davis tried to take it upon himself to carry the Laker offense, but the Jazz kept firing away on the other end to keep L.A. from getting anywhere close. Nunn found a bit of a groove offensively, but the team’s porous defense had them staring at a 115-98 hole going into the fourth.
Davis managed to knock down a rare three, but Utah simply could not miss from the field and pushed their lead to 18. With the Laker defense basically non-existent, they would suffer another loss at the hands of the Jazz. Former Laker Talen Horton-Tucker got in on the action late, posterizing Damian Jones which had to have felt good after being traded from L.A. this past summer.
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