Utah’s bigs feast on Lakers in blowout win

Following their first back-to-back wins since January, the Los Angeles Lakers had a rough outing in Utah, losing to the Jazz 115-100 on Wednesday.

LeBron James sat out the second night of the Lakers’ back-to-back, and the team had a tough time scoring from just about everywhere on the floor as a result, but especially in the painted area, where Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors made life hard on their guests. On the night, Los Angeles shot a lowly 38.1 percent from the field.

However, it wasn’t just the defensive end where Gobert and Favors made an impact. The big man duo combined for 42 points on 18-25 shooting from the field to go along with 17 rebounds and four blocks. The Lakers had no answer for them with both Tyson Chandler and Mike Muscala sidelined.

Despite the loss, there were a few bright spots in the game for the Lakers, including Moritz Wagner, who scored 13 points on 4-9 shooting from the field, including 1-3 from 3-point range. He also ended the night with a team-high box plus-minus of +11.

Scott Machado was also productive in his limited action for Los Angeles. In 15 minutes of playing time, the 28-year-old guard scored 7 points on an efficient 75 percent shooting from the field and dished out three assists.

With playoffs mathematically out of the equation, the Lakers’ lone goal for the rest of the season should be seeing what they have in their young guys, excluding Kyle Kuzma, who has already established himself as a solid rotation player in his young career. With just seven games left in the season, guys like Isaac Bonga, Johnathan Williams, Alex Caruso, Wagner and Machado should see the floor a little more.

The Lakers will be back at it on Friday to take on the Hornets at home.

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