Another thing I noticed was several Laker fans in the audience, and so did Spence Checketts of ESPN 700.
A very noticeable chant of “Let’s go Lakers” has broken out here at the arena coming from all the fans who cheered for the Warriors for the past six years.
— Spence Checketts (@spencechecketts) December 5, 2019
One person commented under the username @Irieska that they had noticed a good number of Lakers fans in our arena for years every time the Jazz and Lakers met.
I also noticed the same thing when I attended a Jazz-Lakers game in 2014. I usually don’t mind very much as long as the arena has energy rooting for the home team. But if a blowout loss is happening, fans start to file out of the doors and the home-team crowd is silenced. This makes the visiting crowd much more audible.
In the Jazz-Lakers game I went to, Jazz weren’t very good that year and neither was fan attendance. It hurt to see Nick Young splashing threes and prancing around the court like he owned the place, and only a few sections of Lakers fans were sitting around me when the final buzzer sounded
I couldn’t help but think of that memory as I saw Dwight Howard and Rajon Rondo have big nights. It’s bizarre to me how one season these veterans appear washed up and unwilling to adapt to the modern NBA. But as soon as they are put on a contending team with LeBron James, they start playing well. Maybe it’s just a testament to the greatness of LeBron and how he makes his teammates better.
Howard earned a +/- score of +19 on the night, grabbed nine rebounds, and blocked three shots in just 19 minutes of play. Rondo dished 12 assists and was tied for the team high +/- score with a +25. The most demoralizing play for me was when Dwight Howard sank a three pointer just moments after missing two free throws and giving the state of Utah free Chick-fil-A.
I’m sure a big reason why Laker-fan attendance consistently happens is because of the superstars on the Lakers. Kobe Bryant had a very loyal fanbase back in his day, and LeBron James is now playing the same role on the Lakers. Those two could show up to every arena in the league and find their fan group in attendance. Another reason could be the demographics of Salt Lake City. I know of a lot of families in the Wasatch Front that came from California and still have relatives out there, and therefore are Lakers fans.
Again, this wouldn’t be a storyline had the Jazz taken care of business on their home floor; but because of the demoralizing loss the Lakers fans showing up was magnified.
Now the Utah Jazz have the rest of today to re-charge the batteries and regroup before Saturday’s game versus the Memphis Grizzlies. As Rudy Gobert would say, let’s move on to the next one.
*All stats are a courtesy of basketball-reference.com and ESPN.com