SALT LAKE CITY — From a player-availability standpoint, the Lakers’ four-game trip didn’t get off to a great start. They were without four rotation players – including a starter – on Sunday night against the Utah Jazz.
But the Lakers nearly got the most they could out of the players who were available, leading to a 105-104 victory at the Delta Center.
Anthony Davis (game-high 33 points,11 rebounds) and LeBron James (27 points, 14 assists, five rebounds, two blocked shots) played at their typical high levels.
But it was the role players stepping up who helped get the Lakers (12-8) over the hump.
“This was a great win,” first-year head coach JJ Redick said. “I’m just impressed with our group. I thought our bench – whether it was Max Christie or the minutes Armel [Traoré] played or the minutes Christian [Koloko] played, the minutes Jalen [Hood-Schifino] played – they all did really well with their minutes and gave us a chance to win the game.”
Gabe Vincent, starting in place of Austin Reaves (left pelvic contusion) had his most productive offensive game since signing with the Lakers in the summer of 2023, scoring 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting to go with three rebounds and two assists. Sunday was Vincent’s first double-digit scoring outing in his 30 regular-season games as a Laker.
“I was just trying to make the right reads on the floor, whether it was the screen or the pass or the cut or the shoot,” said Vincent, who missed most of last season due to injury. “Just trying to impact the winning the best way I could.”
Christie lived at the free-throw line, scoring eight of his 12 points there on a night when the Lakers had a 20-10 advantage in made free throws. His eight made free throws and 10 attempts were both career-highs.
“I was just being aggressive, to be honest,” Christie said. “We got guys that were out today and I wanted to kind of take a step up offensively a little bit and I think it’s a good process to step forward for me is my aggression and 10 free throws is like you said, a career-high for me so that’s good for me.”
Rui Hachimura (13 points, seven rebounds/three offensive and two steals) came up with multiple big non-scoring plays late. Hood-Schifino, the Lakers’ 2023 first-round draft pick who played in just his second NBA game this season, got a key defensive stop and made a pair of free throws late in the third quarter to give the Lakers an 86-81 lead going into the fourth.
James made four straight shots in the fourth, including a reverse layup and dunk, that pushed the Lakers’ lead to 101-92. And when the Lakers needed a jolt of offense as part of period in which they only scored 19 points, they leaned on the James-Davis pick-and-roll to moderate success.
James assisted Davis on a midrange jumper to put the Lakers ahead 103-99 with just under two minutes remaining. James made a layup with 41 seconds left to keep then in front at 105-102.
But the Lakers also shot just 8 for 23 in the fourth (34.8%), including 5-of-14 shooting from James during a quarter that saw several possessions stall out until late in the shot clock.
“Some of it is just the nature of having D-Lo and Austin out of the lineup,” Redick explained of the Lakers’ late-game “hero ball” choices. “And just feeling like as a staff, we said, ‘LeBron and A.D. should shoot 25 or more times.’ We accomplished that goal. That was going to be our best offense.”
After a James 3-point miss, Walker Kessler (13 points, 11 rebounds) collared a defensive rebound and Collin Sexton (15 points, four assists) pushed the ball up the court looking for a quick shot, with Jazz coach Will Hardy calling a timeout with 2.1 seconds left to draw up a play.
The timeout allowed the Lakers to get their defense set, preventing the Jazz from getting a shot off before the final buzzer.
“We want to take away every everything,” Davis said of the final sequences. “And Collin got downhill and I was actually going for a block, but I heard the whistle. I stopped. He made it. I don’t know if he would’ve ended up making it (without the stoppage). I probably would have blocked it. Maybe the coach saw something.
“But for us, especially when the timeout is not called, we have to lock in. We don’t get a chance to talk about what our coverage is. It helped us bring Christian into the game to be over the ball and then also just got some confusion it looked like from them where they couldn’t get the ball in. So it worked out in our favor.”
The Jazz (4-16) were led by Lauri Markkanen’s 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists. John Collins had 21 points, nine assists and three rebounds.
In addition to Reaves, the Lakers were also without D’Angelo Russell and Cam Reddish because of illness. Backup center Jaxson Hayes remains sidelined because of a bruised/sprained right ankle. Christian Wood (offseason left knee surgery) and Jarred Vanderbilt (offseason right foot surgery recovery) have yet to make their season debuts. Bronny James (bruised left heel) was also sidelined.
The matchup against the Jazz was the first night of a back-to-back for the Lakers, who will face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night as part of their four-game road trip.
They’ll close the trip with matchups against the Miami Heat on Wednesday and the Atlanta Hawks on Friday.
James topped 15,000 career made field goals in the second quarter, becoming the second player in NBA history behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (15,837) to reach that mark.
