The Los Angeles Lakers will be glad to have picked up a 105-104 win against the Utah Jazz in the Vivint Arena, Utah tonight. The Lakers keep themselves in the hunt for a top-six seed with a 12-8 record while the Jazz are barely avoiding the No. 15 seed in the West with their 4-16 record.
The Lakers were led by MVP candidate Anthony Davis‘ 33 points (13-25 FG) and 11 rebounds, complemented by LeBron James‘ 27 points (12-28 FG) and 14 assists. The stars had to lead the short-handed franchise, with the only other double-digit producers being Rui Hachimura with 13 points (5-11 FG) and seven rebounds, Max Christie off the bench with 12 points (2-6 FG), and Gabe Vincent with 10 points (4-5 FG).
The Jazz received solid production from all players in their starting five. Lauri Markkanen led all scorers with 22 points (8-17 FG) and seven rebounds, while John Collins put up 21 points (7-14 FG) and nine rebounds. Collin Sexton put up 15 points (7-14 FG) while Keyontae George put up 14 points (5-10 FG) Lakers trade target Walker Kessler had 13 points (6-6 FG) and 11 rebounds in the loss.
Let’s analyze what happened in this contest to let the Lakers narrowly avoid an upset loss.
A Final Play Disaster By Will Hardy
This would’ve been a Jazz win if head coach Will Hardy had waited a few seconds to see how their final possession turned out instead of calling a timeout for an ATO play with 1.5 seconds left. Sexton had the ball with five seconds on the clock to make a game-winning play, but Hardy called a timeout as Sexton was in the middle of a drive to the rim which he ended up converting, giving the Jazz a one-point lead if Hardy hadn’t jumped the gun with the timeout.
Did the Jazz coach just save the Lakers? pic.twitter.com/JxBj5hGuKg
— LakeShow Highlights (@LSH_lakeshow) December 2, 2024
The logic Hardy was using makes sense as he likely thought Sexton had been stopped on the perimeter after the guard noticeably slowed down. But, Sexton slowed down to exploit a hole in the defense which enabled him to get open on his drive to the rim, something Hardy couldn’t spot fast enough in real time to avoid calling the timeout. Sexton couldn’t even hide the anger on his face as Hardy essentially cost them the game.
Fans are already joking about this being a tanking strategy, but the reaction of the players made it clear that they were hoping to pull this win out. It was a really bad way to lose what would’ve been a marquee home win for the Jazz this season and a really lucky result for the Lakers who would’ve been roasted if they lost this one.
Lakers Burning Out Their Core Rotational Players
The Lakers entered this game with six core players named on the injury list, with D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, and Cam Reddish joining Jarred Vanderbilt, Christian Wood, and Jaxson Hayes on the recovery table. While Russell, Reaves, and Reddish are expected to return after a game’s absence, it is indicative of a larger problem on the Lakers this season – the load on LeBron and Davis’ shoulders.
LeBron played over 36 minutes tonight while Davis played nearly 39 minutes in the win, with the performances of both players desperately needed for the Lakers to pull out even this one-point win against one of the worst teams in the NBA. The load on James and Davis is unsustainable, especially the nearly 40-year-old LeBron who has a rough stretch of games before putting up an inefficient 27 points tonight.
James is averaging 35.2 minutes per game while Davis is averaging 35.5 minutes per game, with these numbers not sustainable for a Lakers franchise hoping to not only make the Playoffs but also compete for a title. They need to bring some playable rotational depth back into the roster in one way or the other, or we’re seeing yet another Lakers season where the players will ultimately burn out on the court.
Lakers Can’t Shoot
The team made a clear effort in the preseason under JJ Redick to become a more active three-point shooting team after being one of the lowest-volume shooters in the NBA last season. This season, they’ve slightly increased their volume but are shooting extremely inefficiently in those moments. The Lakers shot 7-33 from three (21.2 3P%) tonight, one of their worst shooting performances of the season.
Their poor shooting was largely affected by the absence of Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell, and there wasn’t much to help the team from the outside in their absence. Rookie sharpshooter Dalton Knecht (1-5 3P) struggled, while LeBron (0-9 3P) looked like a shadow of the 40% three-point shooter we saw last season. The team wants to shoot from the outside but simply doesn’t have the personnel to do that with any real consistency.
Their overall shooting will improve when they’re at full strength, but we have enough of a sample size to know that the team isn’t equipped to be a volume-shooting team. To make that happen, they’ll likely have to acquire some players who can reinforce the team on that end at some point this season.
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