The Los Angeles Lakers completed their comeback to beat the Utah Jazz, 106-101.
Anthony Davis made sure the Lakers got off to a good start offensively, scoring six quick points to open up an 8-0 lead. Russell Westbrook followed up with five points of his own, though Donovan Mitchell heated up quickly with 10 points to keep the Jazz within two possessions after their rough start.
The Los Angeles defense had trouble slowing down Mitchell and Bogdon Bogdanovic, who carried the Utah offense, with the former converting on free throws to tie the game 21-21. Jordan Clarkson took over the scoring for Mitchell when he subbed in, but Davis nailed a corner three before the end of the quarter to knot things up 27-27.
Talen Horton-Tucker came up with a nice block on Mike Conley early in the second, and LeBron James was able to barrel his way to the rim for a couple of layups. However, the Lakers experienced a scoring drought while Mitchell came back and picked up where he left off.
The Lakers had zero answers for Mitchell, who had his jumper going and things got worse when Davis came down and looked to turn his ankle, eventually being ruled out for the game. James took it upon himself to try and pick up the scoring slack but Los Angeles went into the half trailing 53-46.
Davis was ruled out for the remainder of the game, so Trevor Ariza got the start in his place and knocked down a triple. Malik Monk tried to fill the scoring void left by Davis, but the Jazz continued to execute well and increased their lead to 11.
Dwight Howard finally made an appearance, but was unable to come down with a lob pass that eventually lead to a Jazz fastbreak. The Lakers managed to go on a small run at the end of the quarter with James leading the charge and they would go into the fourth trailing 79-71.
Kent Bazemore got some run and immediately made an impact by knocking down a tough corner three. Austin Reaves offered some energy on the offensive end, finding Westbrook for a lob and later earning an and-one opportunity to get the Lakers within single digits.
Westbrook got the Crypto.com arena into it after scoring on consecutive drives and later found James cutting for a dunk to put L.A. up two. Utah pulled within one in the final minute after a Bogdanovic three, but Reaves answered with one of his own while Westbrook was able to ice the game with a pair of free throws.
