As if the Los Angeles Lakers weren’t fighting hard enough, two starters before Wednesday’s game against Utah Jazz, a 114-89 loss only highlighted the title champions’ routine.
With Anthony Davis (right leg) and Dennis Schroder (health and safety protocols) on the side, Jazz jumped the Lakers. They led by 29 points, giving LA their fourth consecutive defeat and fifth in their last six games, since Davis aggravated his tendinosis and sprained his calf a week and a half ago.
Utah has won 15 consecutive home wins.
“They are playing as the best team in the league at the moment,” said Lakers coach Frank Vogel of Utah, who scored 22 out of 48 out of 3 in the rout.
And the Lakers, still third in the Western Conference ranking, on 22-11, are not playing as well as their record suggests.
LA kept pace with Utah in the first quarter at Vivint Arena, losing 24-23 after one, before Jazz broke out in the second and third quarters, beating the Lakers 66-41 to open the game.
Markieff Morris, who started on the attack court against Utah’s Rudy Gobert without Davis, said the Lakers’ current difficulties are a check on the reality the team needed.
“[I] think from the beginning that we won with a lot of talent and we have many players who know their roles. Now, with these guys out – with AD in particular – we need guys to do different things, “said Morris after finishing with the season’s maximum on points (12) and rebounds (9).” This is new for all of us. But we need this. If you ask me, we need this. Because you never know with injuries. You never know in the playoffs. Never know. We need these challenging times to really discover who we really are. “
The four-game losing streak is the longest the Lakers have had in the past two seasons, but Morris said it’s difficult to compare this season’s squad with last year’s because of the change in squad and the challenges that come with the compact’s schedule. coronavirus.
“This is the most basketball I have ever played in my life – this season and the last one combined,” he said. “It’s an unbelievable amount of basketball that we’re all playing. It gets mentally draining. Especially when you lose.”
The Lakers have four more games before the All-Star break, with the next three of those games – at home against Portland, Golden State and Phoenix – all against teams with winning records.
“It’s not to click right away,” said Morris. “It is to take time. It is to challenge us. It is to appear that our backs are against the wall. And everyone needs this. It will bring out the real you when you have to fight when your back is against the wall, when you lose a few games. That will reveal your true self. “
LeBron James, whose teams are 1 to 3 in repeated moves for the title so far in his career, has remained pragmatic, not using the lost LA players as an excuse, but leveling off with the fact that the season will not get off track because of Fights of February.
“It is a difficult journey for us,” said James, after scoring 19 points in 28 minutes. “You know this is not going to define who we will be for the rest of the season and in the long run. That’s right.”
When asked if the losses could help the refurbished Los Angeles locker room to meet, he agreed.
“Always the best teacher in life is experience,” said James. “You know, for us, going through this now, I think it will benefit our team tremendously.”
As with any team with consecutive championship aspirations, Morris kept an eye on the future when evaluating Wednesday’s result.
“We see Jazz, we know they hit our ass tonight,” he said. “But in the playoffs, it’s a different story.”