In a game that saw the lead see-saw back and forth 18 times, it was only fitting that everything was on the line with one last shot.
The Lakers had the player that they wanted, D’Angelo Russell, with the ball in his hands. But he couldn’t lose the Utah defense, which switched across two screens, and was forced to put up a wild, 26-foot 3-pointer before the buzzer that didn’t reach the rim, giving the Jazz a 102-100 win.
Head coach Luke Walton took responsibility for the final shot, saying that he didn’t expect Utah center Rudy Gobert to miss both of his free throw attempts with 13.1 seconds left. Walton had drawn up a play meant to get a 3-pointer, not anticipating that the Lakers would only be down by two.
“He’s trying to do the right thing,” Walton said of Russell. “He’s trying to run the play that the coach called. Obviously give him respect for that. That last possession is on me.”
In spite of the final outcome, the Lakers (12-23) showed grit in battling the Jazz down to the wire, never trailing by more than seven.
Julius Randle was the epicenter of this, tying his career-high of 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting. He also grabbed a dozen rebounds — half of which came on the offensive glass — despite having to battle with Utah’s 7-foot-1 Defensive Player of the Year candidate, Rudy Gobert.
“When he’s playing with that type of fire, that’s when (Randle) really elevates himself as a great player in this league,” Walton said.
From the very start, the Lakers had to weather a flurry from Gordon Hayward, who put up a dozen of his game-high 31 points in the first quarter.
Los Angeles kept the game within reach, eventually ending the half on an 8-1 run capped by a last-second Russell bank shot to grab a 52-48 lead at intermission.
The two teams then started to pass the lead back and forth, with Utah (19-13) taking it for half of the third quarter before Lou Williams provided nine points and an assist in the final two minutes of the frame to snag the 74-72 edge.
Randle went right at Gobert with the game on the line, hitting a game-tying floater with two minutes left before knocking down a shot clock-beater in the paint for a 99-97 lead in the final 69 seconds.
But the Jazz were prepared, as Gobert answered with a layup. Then the Lakers forgot to switch a screen on the NBA’s leader in 3-point percentage, Joe Ingles, who broke the tie on a corner triple with 21.6 seconds remaining.
“I think the big play was that play where it was a miscommunication and Ingles hit the three,” Randle said. “That was a huge possession.”
Randle then went 1-of-2 at the free throw line to trim L.A.’s deficit to two before Gobert missed his foul shots.
After that, Russell was unable to create magic against the NBA’s stingiest defense.
“I didn’t have my mojo all game,” said Russell, who had four points on 2-of-11 shooting. “I’m trying to get my mojo back. Individually, that’s all I can really say. But you gotta live with it and die with it. If you’re gonna take the shot, you’ve got to be able to take the criticism if you miss.”
Russell and Nick Young — two of the Lakers’ top marksmen — combined to miss all seven of their 3-point attempts, as L.A. went just 4-of-16 from beyond the arc despite shooting 47.0 percent overall.
The Lakers’ bigs were able to keep that percentage high while Williams helped out with 22 points — 18 of which came in the second half — and an 8-of-8 clip a the foul line.
And though the Jazz shot a robust 50.7 percent from the field, Walton was pleased with the mentality his team brought to that end of the floor.
“The message afterward was we played the most aggressive, in my opinion, defensive game that we’ve had in a long time,” Walton said. “We’re still going to make mistakes. That’s just part of learning.”
Notes
Every Laker who entered the game scored before halftime. … Luol Deng had nine points and nine rebounds. … The Lakers kept Gobert relatively in check, as he finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high six turnovers. … Staples Center was packed by a sold-out crowd of 18,997.