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Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Takeaways from loss to Utah Jazz

By Ronald Agers

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - MARCH 27: Royce O'Neale #23 of the Utah Jazz shoots the ball during the game against the Los Angeles Lakers on March 27, 2019 at vivint.SmartHome Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - MARCH 27: Royce O'Neale #23 of the Utah Jazz shoots the ball during the game against the Los Angeles Lakers on March 27, 2019 at vivint.SmartHome Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Here are three takeaways for the Los Angeles Lakers in their loss to the Utah Jazz.

The Los Angeles Lakers strolled into Utah with a two-game winning streak that confused fans and media alike on what the direction and plan is to close out the season. Was the team supposed to tank and make run for a high draft pick or as Luke Walton put it, play to win games?

How about the LeBron James minutes restrictions? LeBron James has played pretty much status quo the past few games along with finishing games out in crunch time.

Now that the Los Angeles Lakers are officially out of the playoffs, isn’t it about time to start evaluating the end of the bench to figure out who’s worth keeping and giving them experience on the floor? Instead the veterans have had the lion’s share of the minutes in the rotation.

If any of these scenarios have you confused, don’t worry,  there is a home here at Lake Show Life, the daily diary of day-to-day confusion and dysfunction that is the Los Angeles Lakers.

Let’s set the table with an episode of ESPN’s First Take after the Lakers blew out the Washington Wizards.

Maybe the Lakers saw the segment because LeBron James did not make the trip to Utah and the level of play went back to “groin injury” status. What I’m saying is..

No LeBron James…no chance…no more winning streak.

The Los Angeles Lakers were defeated by the Utah Jazz 115-100 in a contest that was never in any real doubt. It wasn’t for the lack of effort because they did try, but having Kyle Kuzma out on the floor trying to carry the offensive scoring load against one of the top defensive teams in the NBA is really unfair.

The offense, that was flowing the last three games with LeBron in the lineup dragged mightily as the team missed its first five shots of the game. Even the two 3-point shots from Kyle Kuzma were bank shots from about 26 feet away. That’s not how you want to start offensively on the road. Overall, the Lakers only shot 38 percent from the field for the game. Couple that with a 9-for-27  performance from distance, we can come to the conclusion that the Lakers could not throw the ball in the Pacific Ocean neck-deep.

Michael Beasley was not around to get buckets this time for the Lakers. Remember he was the leading scorer the last time the team played in Salt Lake.

It will be very interesting to see what direction the Lakers go for the rest of the season. The talent level is high enough to win some games if LeBron James continues to respect the “Basketball Gods” and stays engaged. But as long as the Lakers keep winning, the chances of falling out of the Top 10 in the lottery gets greater and greater.

Lets’ check out some storylines of the game…

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