I think he just competes. That's the biggest thing. Anytime you have a guy who competes and has a desire to be better, that's going to happen. – Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder on Donovan Mitchell
LOS ANGELES -- The Jazz ended their exhibition schedule Tuesday night with their most difficult game of the pre-season.
The visitors and the Los Angeles Lakers exchanged leads 17 times and forced 14 ties before the Jazz emerged with a 105-99 victory at the Staples Center to finish the pre-season 5-0.
The Jazz succeeded despite missing guards Dante Exum, Raul Neto and Rodney Hood to injuries. Though Neto played Monday night, his injured hamstring kept him on the bench.
Hood started against the Lakers but left after four minutes with a sore neck that he sustained Monday night. Hood grabbed one rebound and missed his only shot attempt.
"We're a work in progress," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "It's hard to have firm expectations on the high side or on the low side. We just have to evaluate every day, every play, and try to stay in the moment."
Rudy Gobert returned to the lineup and amassed 29 points and 13 rebounds. Ricky Rubio added 22 points. But rookie Donovan Mitchell had his best performance to date.
Mitchell made 10 of 20 field-goal attempts to finish with 26 points, and played the pivotal role in the final 1 minute, 28 seconds.
The Jazz began the fourth quarter with a 79-77 lead but the Lakers used a 13-4 blitz to build their biggest lead of the game, with 7:50 to play, 90-83. Jordan Clarkson scored seven points and made a steal, with former Utah standout Kyle Kuzma adding six points.
But the visitors used a 6-0 spurt to tie the score at 90 with 6:16 remaining. Joe Ingles ended the spree with a 3-point shot -- the Jazz's first basket in 3 minutes, 8 seconds.
Then after Anthony Caruso's jumper gave the Lakers a 99-98 lead with 2:21 to play, Mitchell took over.
The first-round draft choice out of Louisville put the Jazz ahead by one point by banking a jump shot from 10 feet with 1:28 remaining. Then with 1:02 left, Mitchell converted a 3-point shot. Gobert began the scoring sequence by blocking Brandon Ingram's shot, and Joe Ingles secured the rebound.
Defensively, Mitchell grabbed the rebound of Kuzma's missed shot with 41.4 seconds to go.
"I think he just competes," Snyder said. "That's the biggest thing. Anytime you have a guy who competes and has a desire to be better, that's going to happen. One of the things about Donny is that he loves to watch film.
"We're going to continue to see him have his ups and downs. But he's out there competing. He's not overthinking, although he's thoughtful enough to want to make the right play, be disciplined defensively and play within what we're trying to do as a group."
Mitchell excelled after admitting some trepidation about playing in an arena where the Lakers won five of their 15 NBA championships and played host to such players as Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.
"I was kind of nervous going in," he said. "I walked straight in and I didn't even go to the locker room. I went out to the court just to look, to see it for the first time. It's one of those moments you've been looking forward to as a kid."
Mitchell excelled while continuing his adjustment to the professional game.
"Guys aren't necessarily faster but they're quicker in short spurts," he said. "Some passes you make in college aren't going to be there in the NBA. Lay-ups that you take in college aren't going to be there in the NBA. I've got to get used to playing with guys who are 10, sometimes 12, years older than I am, tall and athletic."
The teams exchanged the lead eight times and tied the score six times in the first 15 1/2 minutes-- as often as the Jazz and the Phoenix Suns did in 48 minutes Friday night -- before Los Angeles took brief control.
With the score tied at 37, the Lakers used a 5-0 spurt to move ahead, 42-37, with 6:40 left in the first half. Kuzma scored four points during the surge.
With the fans yelling, "Kooooz" every time he shot, Kuzma scored two points on a jumper from the right baseline and two more on a lay-in after spinning around the Jazz's Thalo Sefolosha while driving in the open court.
But with the hosts owning 49-46 lead, Rubio scored four points to lead a 6-0 spree that gave the Jazz a 52-49 halftime lead. then Gobert and Derrick Favors each added a basket in the first minute of the second half, with Favors' slam dunk resulting from Mitchell's steal, to expand the lead to 56-49.
Yet in the final 2:02 of the third period, the squads relinquished the lead four times. Clarkson's 3-point shot and Kuzma's reverse lay-in put the Lakers ahead with 1:02 left in the quarter, 77-73.
However, Mitchell drove the key for a lay-in, drew a foul and made the ensuing free throw to draw the Jazz within one point. Then after Favors' steal, Joe Johnson made a 3-pointer with two-tenths of a second remaining to give the visitors a 79-77 lead as the quarter ended.
Kuzma and Clarkson each scored 18 points for the Lakers.