3. The three-point shooting disparity won’t be like this in the NBA Playoffs
This was simply awful timing for the Los Angeles Lakers. Not only did they have to play the best team in the league while they are in a rut, but they had to play the best team in the league while they are ice cold from beyond the arc.
Hot streaks and cold streaks absolutely are real in the NBA and the Lakers are in a cold shooting streak. The Lakers shot 8-33 (24.2%) from beyond the arc, turning in yet another woeful performance on top of the bad performances they have already put together.
The Lakers have shot under 30% from beyond the arc in eight of the last 10 games. That is really bad. There is a combination of reasons why. Schroder and Davis being out definitely does not help and LeBron has come back down to earth a bit.
He was shooting the best three-point percentage of his career but has regressed back towards his mean, which should be expected. The problem is that he is still taking threes like he is shooting at that career-best pace.
The Jazz also had a historic night. They put up the most threes in a half in franchise history and shot 22-48 from beyond the arc. Yes, the game was a blowout and they did not need a historic night from three, but this is not something that is going to happen again in the playoffs.
The gameplan for the Jazz to beat a healthy Lakers team in a playoff series is to have shooting nights like these and hope the Lakers are cold in a similar fashion.
That is not sustainable over an entire playoff series against a team like the Los Angeles Lakers.