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The whole Lakers team was available to play last night. Against a Jazz team that is built to bomb away from distance, the Lakers hit them inside then out as they started the game cold from three but warmed up after the half. Returning to the court was the NBA’s All-Time Leading Scorer, LeBron James, and his presence did nothing to disrupt the team’s mojo. He simply added a massive IQ, talent and skill infusion to the team and looked a lot like himself by the 2nd half. The Lakers are rolling and hopefully we can keep the healthy vibes going and see what we really have to work with.

1. LeBron’s seamless inclusion. He had some 1st quarter rust. He had some 2nd quarter adjustments. By the time the ball was inbounded to start the 2nd half LeBron was grooving. He didn’t force his offense one iota (11 points on 7 shots, 2-3 from three) and used the defensive focus the Jazz deployed against them at every opportunity. In a league where almost every team is looking to push the pace, LeBron is a cheat code in the half court off his IQ alone. Doubles came, the ball was delivered into the hands of a shooter. Paint defense collapses on his drive, LeBron dishes to a teammate for an easy bucket at the rim. He had the 3 ball working (2-3) the only issue, and he was far from alone, were the free throws (1-4). Other than that he seemed fairly on point with his defensive rotations, especially after the half where we did a better job of forcing George into tougher looks and putting a body on Lauri. He did all of his damage in 30 minutes which, if we could keep him around that mark for the season, would do wonders for his end-of-season health.
2. Luka’s eruption. You could tell Luka was pissed after the travelling call. From there he chirped at the refs as much as I’ve seen him do this year. I think it’s something that he does try and contain but that, in the moment, can be difficult. He ended up baiting the Jazz defenders into some pretty silly fouls and turned a halftime deficit of 4 into an end of the 3rd lead of 11 we would never really come close to losing. His 17 points in the 3rd came from a variety of ways but it was clear he wanted to set an aggressive tone out of the locker room and make sure the Jazz didn’t stretch a small halftime lead into something bigger. His 4 steals helped to offset his 8 turnovers and he, along with every Laker, missed some free throws. His 34 minutes are also right in the happy place for what I think we’d all like to see his MPG land around.
3. Reaves and his quiet 26. At one point I was watching the game thinking “man I don’t know where Austin’s offense is going to come from…” he was the leading scorer, at the time and ended with one of the more quiet 26 points on just 11 shots you’ll see in the NBA this season. Like Luka he turned the ball over way too much (4 TO’s to just 1 dime) but he made up for it efficiency and points from the stripe.
4. Rui starts, Smart off the bench. One of the major mysteries was, for a game at least, cleared up when Redick tapped Rui Hachimura to start over Marcus Smart. For myself this was always the best route because Rui’s shooting helps keep the defense from smothering Luka and Reaves. The defensive pairing of he and LaRavia has also been an issue, so having Jake backup Rui just makes a lot of sense on both ends. Still, I won’t be too surprised if this part of the lineup gets the most tinkering going forward. I expect that, should this lineup hit a rough patch, we’ll see Redick pivot to any number of players based on what feels like the starting five is lacking. Hard to read too much into this starting unit against a team like Utah where you really do have to switch everything on account of how aggressively they shoot threes.
5. DeAndre Ayton continues his dominance. It’s really nice having a center that can play from the 15′ range on down to the rim. There’s nothing like a Jaxson Hayes dunk, don’t get me wrong, but watching Ayton and our playmakers dissect the Utah defense, especially in the second half, was a lot of fun to watch. Ayton popped, he caught lobs, he scored off of putbacks and he continued to show just how good he can be on a team that has above average playmakers. The Lakers have 2 elite playmakers in LeBron and Luka and a bevy of secondary playmakers led by Reaves. This makes the Lakers fairly deadly in the halfcourt which is what you need to be able and fall back on in the playoffs where fastbreaks go to die.