The Roundup—Jazz 80, Lakers 73

It wasn’t pretty, but it still counts as a win.

Playing the second leg of a back-to-back after a late game on Wednesday, the Utah Jazz came alive late and escaped Los Angeles with an 80-73 win over the Lakers on Thursday night. 

Gordon Hayward scored a game-high 22 points and Trey Burke added 17 for the Jazz off the bench.

Derrick Favors (14 points) and Trevor Booker (10 points) were the only other Jazz players to score in double figures.

Tarik Black led the Lakers with 13 points (and grabbed 10 rebounds) in the loss.

Hayward again answered the call when Utah needed a spark. He scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half and added five rebounds, five assists and four steals. He converted two big three-point plays in the second half and refused to come out of the game after taking a really hard fall late in the fourth quarter (when, amazingly, no foul was called).  

The Jazz closed the game on a 15-6 run in the final 6:15. Hayward converted a three-point play to get things going and then went 6-for-6 from the line in the final minutes. Burke scored on two straight Jazz possessions to give the team a five-point lead with just under two minutes left. The Lakers went 2-for-10 from the field during that stretch.

Utah once again won on the strength of its defense, grabbing 11 steals, blocking eight shots and forcing Los Angeles to shoot only 40.3 percent from the field. It was the second time this week that the Jazz have held their opponent below 75 points.

After a rough shooting night on Wednesday, Utah turned things up a bit (at least from beyond the arc) against the Lakers. The Jazz went 9-for-25 from deep, and both Joe Ingles and Burke drilled three 3-pointers each. Hayward, Booker and Elijah Millsap each knocked down one three.

Late in the third quarter, Carlos Boozer juked Booker and drove in for a layup. Booker, though, recovered quickly to chase down Boozer and spike down the former Jazzman’s shot from behind. As a team, the Jazz blocked eight shots.

Utah’s rookie backcourt of Danté Exum and Rodney Hood combined to go 0-for-11 from the field. ... Rudy Gobert had a quiet night with three points, seven rebounds and three blocks. It was the first time since February 27 (11 games ago) that he didn’t grab at least 10 rebounds. ... The Jazz didn’t make a field goal during the final 8:17 of the first half.

The Jazz will stay on the road for a game Saturday night against the Golden State Warriors. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. MT and the game will be televised on ROOT SPORTS.