LOS ANGELES — The Utah Jazz lost 128-117 to the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday afternoon in the final game of the 2022-23 regular season.
Here are three keys that contributed to the Jazz loss:
- Once again, the significantly shorthanded Jazz were playing against a healthy Lakers squad, led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis. With Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton, Talen Horton-Tucker, Walker Kessler and Rudy Gay all sidelined, the Jazz put up a good fight, but weren’t able to best the Lakers.
In addition to the players already out, the Jazz lost Ochai Agbaji in the fourth quarter when he was ejected from the game after tossing the ball in anger and yelling at official Derek Richardson.
- James finished with 36 points, six rebounds and six assists for his 25th game this season with 30 or more points. The Lakers had six other players score in double figures.
- The Jazz shot just six free throws through the entire game, while the Lakers went 16-of-21 from the charity stripe. Also, the Lakers finished the day shooting 40% from 3-point range while the Jazz shot just 28.6% from long range.