Los Angeles Lakers defeat Utah Jazz for third straight win

The Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Utah Jazz on Friday night and managed to exit Staples Center with a win against their Western Conference rival.

The Los Angeles Lakers have looked really good over the last couple of games, and that stellar play continued Friday night as the Lakers knocked off the struggling Utah Jazz for their 11th win of the season.

Defensively, is where the Lakers have made real improvements over the last couple of games and that was evident early on as the Lakers played good defense to open up the game starting the game on an 8-0 run.

Lonzo Ball opened the game with a 3-pointer in the opening moments of the quarter. From the jump it was apparent that we were going to be getting aggressive Lonzo Ball for this game. Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram made their presence felt early as they were in attack mode all game long.

Ingram went 4-for-6 from the field with 11 points and Ball shot 2-for-6 and had 5 points in the first 12 minutes. Kuzma struggled early but only took a couple of shots in the first quarter. Lonzo had an aggressive layup at the basket with 5:43 left to go in the 1st quarter and Ingram ended the first period with yet another monster slam as the Lakers led 22-16 after one quarter.

In the second, The Lakers started off sloppy committing a few costly turnovers that allowed the Jazz to inch closer to the lead.

It was clear that the Jazz were trying to play to their strength by slowing the pace of the game down which was counter intuitive of how the Lakers like to play.

Fortunately, Kyle Kuzma started to find his shot as he hit back-to-back buckets late in the second quarter.

Ingram and Lonzo continued their aggressive play and for Lonzo he was an unstoppable force driving to the basket at will regardless of a make or a miss.

The Lakers definitely tried to capitalize especially when Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell left the game midway through the second quarter with a rib contusion. Nevertheless, the Lakers tightened up their defense but the game as a whole was a low-scoring affair as the game was tied at 38 after the first half.

In the 3rd quarter, the Lakers started off with a 3-pointer by Kyle Kuzma.

LeBron James had a vicious two handed slam early in the quarter, but for the most part was pretty quiet as he was 4-for-11 from the field and had only 13 points in the first 3 periods.

The Lakers really seemed to get away from playing their fast pace of basketball and turned the ball over a lot as the Jazz were able to briefly take the lead midway through the 3rd quarter thanks to 21 Laker turnovers.

Brandon stayed active offensively with a couple of baskets late, but Lonzo stayed on the bench for most of the quarter in foul trouble as he racked up 4 fouls in the 3rd quarter.

However, after two free throws by LeBron to end the quarter the Lakers went into the 4th up 64-63.

In the final period, The Lakers started with a ton of energy spearheaded by LeBron James who came alive in the 4th quarter.

After a layup by LeBron with 9:55 left in the 4th, and a monstrous dunk by KCP, the Lakers looked to put the Utah Jazz away.

LeBron scored 6 points to open the 4th and the Lakers ramped up the intensity by getting back into their fast paced style of play.

However, the Jazz refused to go away and kept the game close going into the final minutes of the quarter.

But LeBron continued his hot streak hitting a deep 3-pointer with 3:16 left in the 4th and after a dunk by JaVale McGee and two clutch free throws by Brandon Ingram, the Lakers earned their 3rd straight victory and their 11th of the season.

The Lakers are absolutely rolling right now and it is exciting to watch.

Every single starter had a positive +/- and Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram carried this team early on when LeBron was struggling.

The Western Conference standings are so incredibly close right now and there is little room for error for every team in the west.

Every team goes through hot and cold streaks and I’m sure that a cold streak for the Lakers is bound to happen again at some point down the line.

But until that happens, lets enjoy the fact that the Lakers are looking like one of the best teams in the west and are gonna get even scarier down the road.