While the Lakers scored a season high 140 points in the team’s blowout win against the Jazz on Tuesday, things weren’t so rosy early on.
Los Angeles trailed throughout the majority of the first half, and their defense was suspect. The Lakers allowed the Jazz to score 71 points during the first two quarters and Utah was shooting 40% from 3-point range.
In the second half, the Lakers tightened up defensively and took control of the game. LeBron James, in his first game back, was engaged and barking out defensive coverages. Deandre Ayton was blocking shots and protecting the paint. Marcus Smart was coming off the bench, diving on the floor and doing all the dirty work to flip the momentum in LA’s favor.
After the win, head coach JJ Redick talked about demanding more from his team on the defensive side of the ball during the halftime break.
“It’s a tough team to guard, but I thought that’s where we won the game,” Redick said. “We challenged the guys at halftime. They had 71 [points]. It was 16 over what was the expected score. They made some tough shots in the first half, but the challenge was to guard and, up until the last three-and-a-half minutes we held them to 36 for that half, so that’s a credit to the entire group.”
Los Angeles’ improved defense forced Utah to commit 10 turnovers in the second half. It’s also why the Lakers allowed just five points during the final 6:33 of the third quarter.
“I thought we were more physical,” Redick said. “I thought the cadence of what they were trying to do, we started pattern recognizing a little bit, but the physicality was where it started and we started honoring the game plan. We did to start the game. They made some shots and we just kind of overreacted.
“It’s honestly very similar to the ways that Golden State bends you where you’re so concerned with them making jump shots that you just start making up rules and all of a sudden there’s a rip slip and all of a sudden there’s a layup and all of a sudden there’s a miscommunication. I thought when we started the second half, they made some shots, but again, those were tough contested shots and then we got into a nice rhythm defensively of getting stops.”
By resetting and sticking to the plan, the Lakers’ quality eventually overwhelmed the Jazz. It wasn’t a perfect game for all 48 minutes, but they earned the win. And now, they have an opportunity to improve on that game with a rematch against Utah up next.
We’ll see if they can get off to a better start, improve on their first game with everyone available and keep defense as a priority even as their offense shines brighter.
As they saw on Tuesday, when they maintain their defensive focus, beating the Lakers becomes that much harder to do.