Utah Jazz’s unpredictability was again on display as they upset the Lakers with 132-125. After embarrassing the Nuggets, Jazz repeated the same against the purple and gold. D’Angelo Russell was the top scorer for the Los Angeles Lakers with 39 points and Austin Reaves chipped in with 19 points. Even though his team did not win, Anthony Davis was in the mood to create history in the game tonight.
Jazz entered the game with a 4 game winning streak defeating the Giants of the conference earlier. Previously, they humbled the 76ers, Bucks, Nuggets, and Raptors. The Lakers faced the Jazz without Lebron James in the camp. He was out of the game due to an ankle injury. And Anthony Davis had to fill the vacuum. He could not create wonders with the shooting in the game but his numbers got him in the headlines.
Anthony Davis triple-double record against Jazz
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For the Jazz, Lauri Markkanen was the highest scorer with 29 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. Collin Sexton chipped in 27 points in his 28-minute play. However, Anthony Davis, the big man of the Lakers, piled up 15 points, 15 rebounds, 11 assists, and 4 blocks in the game. With such statistics, Anthony Davis became the first player in the league to record a stat like that since Andrei Kirilenko in 2006.
AD in the loss:
15 PTS
15 REB
11 AST
4 BLK1st player to reach these numbers in a game since Andrei Kirilenko in 2006. https://t.co/1vepCzKjsH
— StatMuse (@statmuse) January 14, 2024
Davis has played for 12 seasons in the NBA and had stints with the Lakers and the Pelicans. He averages 24.1 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 2.3 blocks in his 697 regular season games. The star has participated in 8 All-star games and has won 1 NBA championship.
His record could not be helpful to the Lakers though who have been facing a battered lineup for long. They managed to win the inaugural In-Seasnon tournament but the faultlines have begun to appear in the Lakers’ losses since then. But fans were not disappointed with injuries piling up to result in the poor team performance, they found issues with Anthony Davis himself today.
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Was Anthony Davis responsible for the Lakers’ loss?
Utah Jazz is not a star-studded team like the Lakers. Yet players coming together to contribute helped them stun the NBA fans again. Besides Markkanen and Sexton, Clarkson added 21 points while K. George and J. Collins added 19 points each. But for the Lakers, Russell was brilliant with 39 points, but the rest of the team was lackluster.
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Anthony Davis was 5 on 21 when it came to scoring on-field goals. Had he scored a few more, it would have altered the results in favor of the Los Angeles Lakers. While all the blame cannot be placed on Davis, whose off night came at the wrong time, it does show the lack of depth in the Lakers’ lineup, and their dire need to fix these areas.
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