The Los Angeles Lakers earned their 27th victory of the 2021-2022 season in Los Angeles, defeating the Utah Jazz by a score of 106-101.
Things looked to be in doubt when Anthony Davis went down with what looked to be a horrific injury and the Lakers were expected to be demoralized but the opposite happened. They came storming back, however, to earn a big comeback victory.
Davis received X-rays and they came back negative so he will be ok. He suffered an ankle sprain and will likely miss a couple of weeks before he is back to game action. Coach Frank Vogel spoke postgame about LeBron James putting the team on his back and willing them to victory.
“What we saw LeBron do, it’s just remarkable,” coach Frank Vogel said. “What he continues to do at this point of his career, to take over a game in the fourth quarter the way that he did with his energy, will and determination, it was really something special.”
LeBron James had a huge game for the Lakers. James scored 33 points on 14-for-23 shooting from the field. He knocked down 3-for-8 from behind the three-point line. James also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out 6 assists. James knew once Davis went down with the ankle sprain that he would have to turn up a bit. That’s exactly what he did as he has done many times in the past. James spoke postgame about what drove him to pull out his heroics against Utah postgame.
“I just tried to take the inspiration of what he was able to accomplish over the past couple days,” said James of Donald. “He’s the greatest defensive player I have ever seen play the sport. For him to take time out of his day and watch us play after the parade was amazing.”
James also spoke on Anthony Davis’ injury postgame. James and the Lakers know they will need Davis down the stretch and want to make sure he bounces back from this injury.
“Obviously, it took the sails out of us for quite a while when AD went out, especially with the game he was having up until that point,” James said. “It took us a minute to kind of recalibrate and get us some bounce back after that, but we closed the third quarter out in good fashion and was able to turn around in the fourth.”
More Lakers Contributions
- Russell Westbrook scored 17 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and dished out six assists.
- Davis scored 17 points, grabbed two rebounds, and dished out two assists before exiting the game.
- Malik Monk scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds.
The Lakers are now off until Friday, 2/25 due to the NBA All-Star breaks They will face the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena. Tip-off is at 10 pm Eastern/ 7 pm Pacific.
