Game 3
8/3
Lakers vs Utah
Game Breakdown
The Lakers came into the game against
the Utah Jazz looking to improve their
shooting and get their dynamic duo of
Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Both
teams 1-1 in the NBA bubble each team
coming off a double digit losses Saturday.
Tonight this game was dominated by
Davis who dropped 42 points grabbed 12
rebounds! AD was aggressive from the tip.
Lebron managed the offense chipping in
22 points,8 Rebounds,9 Assists and shot
over 50%. This propelled the Lakers to the
#1 seed in the Western Conference with
116-108 win over the Jazz who drop their
2nd straight game.
The Jazz jumped on the Lakers to start
the game 7-0. The 2nd game in a row
where the Lakers started slowly. The
difference tonight the Lakers woke up
quickly and Davis became very assertive
shooting right away and doing what he
does best drawing fouls to get to the
charity stripe. The Lakers would outscore
the Jazz 21-10 over 5 minute stretch and
would end the 1st quarter 24-24.
In The 2nd quarter the Jazz All-Star guard
Donavon Mitchell made presence felt with
pushing the pace and dropping 14 of his
21 points in the 1st Half. The game would
go back and forth with constant lead
changes. AD kept up his torrid pace and
dropped 24 points in the 1st half. Lakers would go into halftime up 2 with a 58-56
The Jazz to start the 2nd half jumped out
to an 8-0 run and the Lakers didn’t panic
they quickly tied the game back up. Then
the Jazz scored 5 points in a row to take a
71-67 lead.
The Lakers then turned it up and hit them
19-5 run of their own that gave them
control of the 3rd quarter. This put the
Lakers up 10 with a score 86-76 to end
the period.
The final quarter the Lakers would be in
full control even though the Jazz kept
scrapping the Lakers just kept answering
the call whenever the Jazz came close. In
the final minutes AD closed the show with
a powerful dunk and a step back 3 pointer
that led to a foul that turned it into a 4
point play. That would seal the deal on a
hard fought Lakers win. The final score
116-108.
My 2 Cents
The dynamic duo showed up tonight.
Lebron and AD combined for 64 points,20
rebounds,13 assists. This what you expect
from 2 titans of game. Sense of urgency
was very relevant in this game the Lakers
wanted to lock down that 1 seed.
Defense was much better in stints tonight
but still had it lapses. The Lakers were
able to force 21 turnovers but where out
rebounded 42-38. The 12 steals by the
Lakers made up for it which helped lead to
16 fast break points.
The Bench didn’t score 50 points tonight
but they did their job. The collective unit
added 34 points led by Dwight Howard 11
points also had some moments that
looked like his All-Star past. Making up for
Javale McGee’s 0 points in that rotating
center position. Howard was 4-4 from the
Field and was a big lift to the Lakers
overall anchoring the defense and playing
a physical game against the Utah big
men.
My assessment of the game is this! The
Lakers only needed to win a few games to
lock up the West. The heavy lifting has
been done this season before the restart
the Lakers just finished the job. This is 1 of
their goals realized. I expect the Lakers to
rest their big stars in these next 5 games
periodically and may not even have them
play in the 4th quarter to stay fresh for a
playoff matchup that could prove to be
difficult in a atmosphere like this
especially with a team that can be boiling
hot coming into the series. These are
things we can worry about in the next few
weeks but for now enjoy the moment the
Lakers are back atop of the Western
Conference after a decade away from the
top.
Written By:Pop Dibiase
