Tuesday night’s 131-99 victory over the Utah Jazz by the Los Angeles Lakers ended their group stage undefeated record. LeBron James recorded his 39,000th point en route to 17 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds.
The Lakers, who will probably host a quarterfinal game early in the upcoming month to start the knockout phases of the league’s inaugural in-season competition, saw Anthony Davis finish with 26 points and 16 rebounds. With this lopsided victory over the Jazz, Los Angeles defeated Phoenix, Memphis, Portland, and Utah by a total score of 74 points, making it the Lakers’ sixth win in their last seven games.
The 38-year-old James became the first player in league history to surpass 39,000 points early in the first quarter. James was already the highest scorer in NBA history, having passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points) the previous season.
James remarked, “My teammates and coaches congratulated me, but I haven’t had time to really process what that means.” Since the start of time, this league has produced a huge number of outstanding players and scores. I always think it’s great to be able to accomplish something that’s the first of something. Without a doubt, this is a crazy time.
At the beginning of the night, James was averaging 26.4 points per game, by far the greatest productivity of any player in NBA history to reach a 21st season. This milestone was just another stop in James’ relentless ascent through the ranks of the most accomplished basketball players in history.
The Lakers led by thirty points in the third quarter and had their two superstars out of the game before the fourth quarter started thanks to D’Angelo Russell’s 20 points and eight assists. Davis dominated his 29 minutes of play, going 11 of 14 and even dishing out four assists, while James only played 24.
Regarding the Lakers’ tournament standing, Davis stated, “Being able to sleep in our beds and not having to travel, that’s always good.” “I guess we’re getting closer to winning the Cup. Is it the Cup competition? NBA Championship? Something along those lines? Thus, we’ve come one step closer.
Los Angeles improved to 7-1 at home this season while Utah dropped to 1-6 on the road behind 19 points from Austin Reaves and a season-high 16 from Christian Wood.
With seven losses in nine games overall, the undersized Jazz fell to 2-2 in tournament play. John Collins led the Jazz with 15 points and Omer Yurtseven with a season-high 18. Utah had a terrible shooting performance in the first half, making only 33% of their shots.
Former Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson, who finished with seven points on three of nine attempts, remarked, “They did a good job of just closing the floor on us and taking all that space that we had and forcing us to take tough shots.”
wing first With barely five minutes gone, Cam Reddish left the game due to groin pain, adding another injury to the Lakers’ already long list of ailments and reducing their roster to nine players. This season, Jarred Vanderbilt (left heel) and Jalen Hood-Schifino (first-round draft pick; right kneecap) are both out of action. Before Gabe Vincent recovers from a left knee injury, which is likely to happen next month, he will miss at least 16 games.
With 17 points and 10 rebounds from Davis in the second quarter, the Lakers continued to dominate the first half and jumped out to a 23-point lead. Utah trailed 62-41 at the half after making just 4 of 23 3-pointers.
Utah coach Will Hardy stated, “I think our lack of physicality, especially on offense, led to very sloppy offensive possessions.” It’s challenging to play against that squad in transition time and time again when you combine that with not really making any shots. It was a poor game because it was a lot of things bundled into one.