Los Angeles Lakers: 4 players to watch for Game 2 vs Utah Jazz

3. LeBron James

In the season opener, LeBron James nearly recorded a triple-double against the LA Clippers. He finished the game with 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists with one steal and one block. At first glance, it looks like a solid game, but when delving deeper, the picture isn’t as pretty.

Frank Vogel and the Los Angeles Lakers seem committed to the point guard-LeBron lineups. He handled the ball a lot, but that led to some stagnation throughout the game. Los Angeles also went away from the pick-and-roll that worked so well during the preseason. That may have been partly due to the defensive scheme the Clippers deployed, but the Lakers seemed intent with switches and posting up.

James also turned the ball over five times, with some of them coming in the fourth quarter when the team was trying to come back. Turnovers happen, but the timeliness of some and how they occurred wasn’t ideal. Multiple entry passes seemed forced from the top of the key, leading to deflections and takeaways for the Clippers.

It would be nice to see Los Angeles get back to some James led pick and roles. Teams cannot afford to leave Danny Green and Avery Bradley open in the corners, which leaves the middle open to operate.

Utah has multiple players they can throw at James, so he will have to adapt and adjust depending on who is matched up against him.