SALT LAKE CITY — The situation the Lakers faced on Wednesday night was similar to one they were in nearly a month ago: playing without LeBron James on the road against the Utah Jazz.
But unlike that Jan. 13 loss, the Lakers fared significantly better this time, in large part because of a dominant third quarter led by Anthony Davis (37 points, 15 rebounds) and Rui Hachimura scoring a career-high 36 points. The result was a 138-122 win, their sixth in seven games, in their final contest before the All-Star break.
The Lakers have won three in a row and 11 of their past 16, putting them at four games over .500 (30-26) for the first time since Dec. 15 when they were 15-11.
“We called tonight’s win a ‘quality of life win’,” Coach Darvin Ham said. “Coming out of it knowing that we’re going to get some of our key pieces back that are going to fortify our lineup and make us deeper, stronger and then for them to see how we’re playing right now and the carry over from the things we were talking about during film, things we were showing in film, transferring it to our breakdowns on the practice floor, the shootaround floor and then ultimately having it carry over to the game. Everybody is in lock step in knowing what we need to do on both sides of the ball to win.”
The Lakers controlled most of the first half, leading by as many as 14 (50-36), but they allowed the Jazz to cut the deficit to 70-69 by halftime. Utah carried that momentum into the third quarter, scoring the period’s first five points and taking small leads early.
“It’s tough to come in here and get a win like that,” Austin Reaves said. “Obviously, without Bron, big part of what we do. But I thought we stayed the course really well. We didn’t press it at any time. We just played the game the right way. A very solid performance.”
Davis took advantage of the Jazz not doubling or blitzing him as much as they did in their previous matchup when he dished out a season-high 11…
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