Lakers/Jazz Feb. 12 Player Breakdowns

LAL 119 – 131 Jazz

Some unfortunate circumstances lead to the Lakers to slip into the All-Star break on a bad loss to the reignited home crowd Jazz after a giving them a shellacking two days ago. Dorian Finney-Smith along with Gabe Vincent sat out this one with various left leg soreness after giving some quality minutes in the prior contest. Jaxon Hayes also plays only 7 minutes after suffering a facial contusion at the hands of John Collins, but not before starting the game in his typical fashion with a huge dunk on Walker Kessler.

These shortcomings in the lineup along with the injury to Jaxon early would make the Lakers funky on offence. Moreover, the Hayes injury would force the new signee Alex Len to play more minutes than JJ Reddick would have been comfortable with coming in. Just yesterday Len signed a one year $1,177,206 contract out of free agency. Although having an experienced center will hopefully fill some gaps in the rebounding and front court defensive position moving forward, the stretch players of John Collins and Lauri Markkanen would foil his debut.

Luka Doncic was showing more signs of getting back to himself in his second start with the Lakers. Starting with a Magic-esque pass to Rui in the corner for a three. As well as a flip behind the back pass from the deep paint to a waiting Reaves for another three later in the game. Along with a few more sprinkled threes of his own on a meagre 3/8 from deep. He would finish with a suitable 16-4-4 in 23 minutes, while making some solid defensive reads and crafty plays around the basket on the other side.

LeBron James was out there doing his thing and trying his best to rally some fight and tenacity on the defensive side. Finishing with 18-6-7 through 33 minutes and hitting 4/8 from three, hitting a bulk of the deep shots early in the game and not being able to sink any down the stretch when the Lakeshow needed it most.

Austin Reaves would have a very disappointing night by his standards, while leading the team in 36 minutes played, still playing the lead role in lineups with LeBron and Luka on the bench. He only tallied a 15-5-11 stat line, creating a fair number of plays for his teammates but shooting a dismal 1-10 from afar that has been uncharacteristic of his play as of late, especially in a game that needed lots of those shots to fall.

Rui Hachimura continues to be a productive offensive option with a 19 point night on a solid 53% shooting including 3 from downtown. Rui’s reliable offence has been an asset for the team with an increased 17ppg in the previous 10 games continuing into tonight, but with no other Laker even getting up to 20 points for the game it is never going to be enough for a win.

Dalton Knecht would be back in the rotation tonight after not playing with the squad since the 4th after being in limbo after the debacle of a Mark Williams trade with the Hornets that is somehow still in play after the Hornets are now disputing the voided trade from a failed Lakers physical. The uncertainty of Knecht 4’s future with the team did not weigh on his performance tonight as he got back into rhythm in a decent 3/7 shooting performance, that he has been building in the last 10 games since a lull from his hot start to the season.

The rest of the supporting cast would not be able to spark much energy with Shake Milton, Vanderbilt, and Goodwin all being unable to counter the Jazz progressions throughout the match, ending with 15 points between them, led by 9 from Shake, his second most in purple since dropping 21 on the Wizards two weeks ago.

Would be remiss not to mention Bronny James’ garbage time production with a quick 9 points in 7 minutes. Including one notable fancy stepping three on their last possession of the game, showing flashes of some building confidence within the new exciting roster dynamic between the Pops and his new partner Luka.

All in all, the Lakers looked complacent and bored at times in the back-to-back with the Jazz. The immediate integration of Len, and inability to arrive at any sense of familiarity between him and Luka in the rotation, as well as the loss of the other 3 pieces in Gabe, Jaxon, and Dorian jumbled any potential of a run with the Jazz getting ahead and staying ahead for most of the competition. Two more mediocre matchups against the Hornets and Blazers after the break will hopefully give the team something build off of coming into two high-profile games against the Nuggets and penultimate revenge game of the Mavericks near the end of the month.