LA Lakers Trash Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City, 121-96

The Los Angeles Lakers were more than confident against Utah Jazz at the Vivint Smart Home Arena, beating the hosts 121-96. They instantly crushed the resistance of the hosts, demoralizing both the fans and Quin Snyder’s crew.

Utah’s coach was caught sitting on the bench biting his lips and nervously watching the game midway through the last period. In those moments, the Lakers would routinely do their work, while on the other side, Jazz was giving their best, but without any outcome.

When Dwight Howard hit a 22-foot three-pointer from the corner, lifting the guests to 108-84 with 6:25 to go, everybody realized that the game was over.

“It’s one of those like the scene from’Major League’ where Willie Mays Hays catches it over his shoulder, and the manager says ‘great catch, don’t ever do it again.’ It was one of those situations. But we’ll take the 3-points for sure,” said Frank Vogel about Howard’s play.

🔥 Dwight Howard FROM THE CORNER!

📺: @NBATV pic.twitter.com/eVZ3EpACS1

— NBA (@NBA) December 5, 2019

This was the first time for the purple and gold to win here since 2015, and for those who love Dwight, his early seventh career three.

“I didn’t even look at the rim. As soon as I let it go, I knew it was going in,” Superman explained his feeling after releasing the ball.

The Jazzers were an equal opponent until the middle of the first period when Lakers made an 11-2 series to reach a double-digit lead, 30-20. They would start the second quarter strong, and extend the gap, heading for the break with a 65-47 advantage. After that it was all about the routine.

Players from the bench would continue at the same pace as the starters, who had a lot of time to rest tonight. Neither of five guys picked by Frank Vogel to start the contest played more than 29 minutes.

Anthony Davis led the Lakers in points with 26, shooting 9 of 11 from the field, and demolishing Utah’s frontcourt. He also added 6 boards and 3 blocks.

LeBron, who won here for the first time since 2010, ended the game with another double-double, 20 points, and 12 assists. Caldwell-Pope had 14 buckets, same as Rajon Rondo who was one rebound shy of a triple-double. He came off the bench and grabbed 9 boards, assisting 12 times. Kuzma scored 13.

“They won the game for us… Everybody was a plus off the bench. Kuz, ‘Do, Troy, Dwight, AD, TD — oh wait I said Troy already — Dudz, QC when he came in. Everybody was a plus,” LeBron said about the teammates who came off the bench.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKcw7KQuNRY

Among the hosts, Donovan Mitchell scored 29, with 5 assists, while Bojan Bogdanovic added 23, hitting 6 threes in 10 tries. Rudy Gobert added 13 with 10 rebounds, and that was about it with double-digit scorers at Utah.

What troubled the home team was the turnovers, which they had 18. On the other hand, Lakers posted 7, and also the guests added 13 steals, while Jazz had three.

Utah is 12-10 now, and have two more games at home in the next five days. The first is this Saturday against the Memphis Grizzlies. After that, they host the OKC Thunder on Monday, before traveling to Minnesota.

As for the Lakers (19-3), they have a clash against the Trail Blazers On Friday and head back home to Staples where they have a clash vs. Minnesota on Sunday. Tonight’s win was their 10 straight outside Los Angeles which is the third time in history to make such a streak. On both previous occasions they went to the NBA Finals.