Los Angeles Lakers’ defense will decide outcome vs. Utah Jazz
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers played an uninspired first game of the season against the Los Angeles Clippers and will need to buckle down on defense vs. the Utah Jazz.
The Los Angeles Lakers did not start the year how the fans would have hoped and dropped the first game of the season to the Los Angeles Clippers, 112-102.
The Lakers bench went on a great run in the third quarter to even up the game and make it competitive heading into the fourth. However, both LeBron James and Anthony Davis stumbled to the finish line in the second half and the supporting cast around them couldn’t knock down shots down the stretch.
The biggest thing to remember and keep in mind is that the regular season is long and one game is not going to define the Lakers’ season. While it was frustrating to see the team lose in the manner that they did, there are 81 more games to play more inspired and get the win.
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The Los Angeles Lakers get the first chance at redemption against the Utah Jazz on Friday night. The Jazz enter the season as one of the most anticipated teams in the Western Conference and after some offseason additions, look primed to make a title run.
Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic were both great additions to the Jazz and fit right into what the team is trying to do. Donovan Mitchell now has more scorers around him while also maintaining the defensive identity of the team.
For the second game in a row the Lakers are taking on a stout defensive team and if they are going to avoid losing their second game in a row then the Lakers’ defense is going to have to step up in this one.
How the Lakers defend is going to determine the fate of this game. Los Angeles is not going to win an offensive slugfest against the Jazz and sloppy defending is nothing but a recipe for disaster.
Rudy Gobert is going to have a lot of say in this game as he defends the rim and keeps the Lakers’ paint scoring to a minimum, which absolutely will have a negative impact on LeBron and Anthony Davis.
That is going to force the Lakers to stretch the floor and try and get Gobert rotated out of the paint. The problem is that Utah has a good defensive backcourt and good defensive wingers—the Lakers are going to have to be creative in their offensive sets to consistently get enough space.
Fastbreak points are going to be the Lakers’ best friend. Fastbreak points are created by forcing turnovers as well as missed shots before getting going in transition.
Danny Green is going to have his hands full with Donovan Mitchell and the Lakers may need Avery Bradley to play a bigger role in defending Mike Conley. It also would not hurt to give Alex Caruso the minutes that Quinn Cook played in game one, as Caruso has more size and is a better defender.
Gobert is not a huge scoring threat but having Davis at least takes away the Jazz’ normal advantage in the paint. The biggest x-factor will probably end up being LeBron. If he plays uninspired defense and doesn’t play the help defense that he is capable of then the Jazz can get past one or two good defenders on the court.
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Utah will be more than happy to grind the clock away and beat the Los Angeles Lakers 100-96. The Lakers won’t score nearly enough to win this game without a strong defensive effort.