The Lakers have improved to 19-3 after beating the Jazz 121-96 in a game they dominated from start to finish. They had the clear two best players on the court all night in LeBron and Anthony Davis and were dominant on both ends of the court.
The Lakers had a dominate first half in which they scored 65 points and held the Jazz to 47. The Jazz could get absolutely nothing going at the rim due to incredible interior defense by the Lakers. The Jazz also struggled from three and the Lakers length really seemed to bother them during contested shots.
The Lakers came out in the third quarter sluggish and seemingly forgetting that interior defense gave them the lead. They gave up a couple of floaters and a lob to Gobert as the Jazz made a run to start the quarter. From there, the Lakers dominated the rest of the game. Their defense was exceptional and their offense was humming.
Speaking of dominant, Anthony Davis was the best player on the court during this game and it wasn’t really close. This was also the best game he has played in a Lakers uniform. He was incredible on offense and completely demoralizing on defense. These are the type of games that make you ask if the Pelicans didn’t get enough back in the trade.
LeBron finished with 20 points and 12 assists while Davis finished with 26 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks. There were key contributions from other players as well. Rondo continues to be ridiculously good from beyond the arc which isn’t a sentence I thought I would ever type. He had 14 points on the night. KCP bounced back with 14 of his own points while Kyle Kuzma pitched in with 13 points.
The Lakers are 19-3 and are one of the best teams in the league. Over the past 48 hours, this team has beaten two western conference playoff teams who went into this season considered championship contenders. Both games were on the road in incredibly hard buildings to win in. This back to back felt like a statement, the Lakers are for real.