Los Angeles Lakers play an awful tune…Beat the Jazz!

2. Let me tell you about Brandon Ingram!

Let’s be clear here, the Los Angeles Lakers do not win this game without Brandon Ingram keeping them above water with timely scoring in a game where both teams struggled to score.

LeBron James put on his club bouncer influence every time the Jazz got close but Ingram led the Lakers with 24 points, six rebounds and two steals. The big thing that Lakers fans should be excited about was that he was one of the only players on BOTH teams that came out aggressive and played hard from the jump.

Check out what he did to Donovan Mitchell here…

Brandon has the ball on the right-wing. Instead of taking a contested 3-point shot, he gives a couple of jab steps and takes off to the basket. Donovan Mitchell was left in the dust and Rudy Gobert made it over in time for a facial courtesy of Ingram.

In this play here, with the shot clock running down, Ingram crossed up Donovan Mitchell and left him in the dust again and this time dunked on Derrick Favors.

If there is anything that Ingram has to clean up going forward, it is the free throws and the turnovers. The Lakers were pretty bad overall, but if Ingram is going to be one of the major ball handlers with Rondo out, this has to be handled.

Brandon Ingram was splitting free throws throughout the game until he knocked down his last two free throws to seal it. In late game situations, the Lakers are going to need shooters that can knock down important free throws in games that are close. If Ingram wants to be in the games in these times going forward, he’s got to be better.

As for those turnovers…

In a game where the entire team was awful (more on that later!), Brandon Ingram led the circus with six. To make things worse, he had zero assists. If he is playing the wing, the Lakers can deal with it. Now that he is taking up the slack in Rajon Rondo‘s absence, this is not acceptable.

Speaking of the Lakers as a whole…