featured-image

Williams Shines Again In Loss to Jazz

On a night when Lou Williams erupted for an accomplishment that hasn’t been seen from a Laker since Kobe Bryant’s heyday, Los Angeles was still unable to pull out a win, as a heap of injuries contributed to its 107-101 loss to Utah.

Williams followed his 40-point performance on Saturday by going off for 38 more against the Jazz, marking the Lakers’ first back-to-back 30-point games since Bryant reached that mark on April 10-12, 2014.

But after the game, he downplayed his own display.

“What did we lose by, seven or eight points?” he said. “So I probably needed seven or eight more.”

Williams reached his total by taking a career-high 27 shots, making 13 and hitting four 3-pointers. He also picked up seven assists and six rebounds in only 34 minutes of play, but the 30-year-old has never been one for individual accomplishments.

“After it’s said and done — no matter how many points, rebounds, any of that stuff you have — if you don’t come out with the win, the goal is short,” Williams said.

Much of the reason that the Lakers (10-13) came up short had to do with injuries.

L.A. played without D’Angelo Russell, Nick Young, Larry Nance Jr. and Jose Calderon, while Tarik Black joined this list in the third quarter when he exited the game with a sprained right ankle.

Thus, head coach Luke Walton was forced to get creative with his starting lineup, moving small forward Brandon Ingram to point guard and having reserve wing Metta World Peace fill in at shooting guard.

The Jazz (13-9) took full advantage, as their starters outscored L.A.’s, 75-34. The Lakers’ starting five of Ingram, World Peace, Luol Deng, Julius Randle and Timofey Mozgov combined to shoot just 14-of-37 from the field.

“At the end of the day, we’re all top basketball players in the world,” said Randle, who had 11 points and 11 rebounds. “We gotta figure out how to play with each other.”

Despite facing the league’s top defense with a shorthanded roster, the Lakers initially kept close with Utah, heading into halftime down just 57-53.

But the Jazz feasted to begin the second half, rolling out of the locker room with 14 unanswered points toward an 18-point lead.

Gordon Hayward provided 10 of his team-high 23 points during this burst, but the Lakers weren’t done.

Williams led the way, as the purple and gold scored six straight points to end a 17-6 run that trimmed the Jazz’s lead to three with four minutes remaining.

But Utah’s Rodney Hood hit a 3-pointer plus a fadeaway jumper to put the game out of reach, giving his team its sixth win in seven games.

Led by Hayward and Rudy Gobert (14 points, 17 rebounds, five blocks), all five of the Jazz’s starters scored in double figures.

Though Williams and Jordan Clarkson (17 points) have been two of the league’s best players off the bench this year, Walton admitted that he is “getting pretty close” to having one of them provide some firepower in L.A.’s struggling starting lineup.

“We would hate to break (the bench) up, but with the amount of people going down, it might be time to roll in that direction and see how we do,” Walton said.

Notes
Utah head coach Quin Snyder was unavailable due to illness, so assistant Igor Kokoskov filled in. … Black finished with seven points and five rebounds in 12 minutes. … The Lakers outscored Utah in the paint, 58-44. … A crowd of 18,279 filed into Staples Center.