The Jazz blew them out, 114-89. .
The Lakers will see the Jazz again for a two-game series in April and, by then, Davis and Schroder should be back in the lineup, but they were completely outgunned in this one.The difference is that the Lakers had only two players, LeBron James and Montrezl Harrell, reach double-figures.
The Jazz play a highly conservative drop-coverage-based defense.For only the fourth time this season, he attempted at least five 3-pointers.
On the second, Derrick Favors is practically ignoring Gasol because LeBron James is posting up against a smaller defender. .
James Harden and Houston's unlimited supply of shooting has tortured the Jazz in the playoffs, and the Jamal Murray-Nikola Jokic pick-and-roll knocked them out last season.
Between Gasol and Anthony Davis, the Lakers have big men capable of drawing Gobert away from the basket, and in LeBron James, they have a shot-creator capable of punishing the Jazz when they do. .
Without Davis in Wednesday's game, we didn't get a true sense of how the Jazz plan to attack this problem.The Lakers go through this every time they play against a contender.They have to make a significantly higher percentage of their shots just to keep up, and so far this season, they've struggled to do so.
Ideally, the Lakers would probably prefer not to play him that much, but with Davis and Schroder out, they've had no choice but to lean on James
"I think this whole narrative of 'LeBron needs more rest' or I should take more rest or I should take time here, it's become a lot bigger than what it actually is," James told reporters after a loss to WashingtonThe Jazz blew the Lakers out, so James only needed to play 28 minutes
The Lakers will have Schroder back on Friday, and that will further help James manage his workload
In a perfect world, the Lakers would have just won the game, but the silver lining here is that it at least gave LeBron a bit of a breather.
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