The Utah Jazz entered Monday night's game as hot offensively as a team can get, scoring 137.5 points per game over their prior four outings, with a 2-2 record in that span. Facing a Los Angeles Lakers squad that was averaging 116 a night and had won eight of 10, the Jazz needed to keep their offense humming to keep pace.
A hot start was ruined by a myriad of issues
The Jazz came out strong in the first quarter, with hot outside shooting (6-14 from deep) and building an early 10-point lead as the Lakers looked out of sync.
Lauri Markkanen and Keyonte George were hot early and combined for 45 first-half points for the Jazz, keeping the Lakers and their fans on edge in the first half.
The constant complaining and flopping by Luka Doncic resulted in a lot of free throws for the Lakers, which allowed them to close the gap to four points by halftime, 71-67.
The Jazz pushed their lead back to seven points multiple times in the early stages of the third quarter, even holding a five-point margin (88-83) at the 6:13 mark.
From there, the Lakers went on a 21-5 run (with Luka Doncic getting 12 in a variety of ways) to blow the game open, scoring in every way possible. Meanwhile, the Jazz turned ice cold, going 0-11 during that stretch, as their only basket was a Cody Williams layup with 6 seconds left in the third quarter.
To start the fourth quarter, the Jazz went 5-8 over the first four minutes to trail 116-105, but then went cold again, going 1-6 from the field and committing 3 turnovers, while the Lakers went on a 16-4 scoring binge that ended any hopes of a Jazz comeback, with the Lakers winning the game 140-126.
Once more, a lack of interior defense really hurt the Jazz. The Lakers got layup after layup, with Kevin Love, Jusuf Nurkic, and Lauri Markkanen unable to offer much resistance defensively inside.
Three-point shooting was a struggle, as six Jazz players combined to go 3-27 from deep, which offset strong showings from Keyonte George (5-13) and Svi Mykhailiuk (3-5), leading to a 29% night from outside the arc.
And the Lakers ended the game shooting 60% from the field, including 34% from deep, which proved too much for the Jazz to overcome in the end.
If the Jazz want to win more games this season than last, they will need to maximize their hot shooting while avoiding going cold like they did tonight, which cost them a winnable game on the road.