SALT LAKE CITY – Rudy Gobert and Jordan Clarkson each scored 18 points and the Utah Jazz routed the Los Angeles Lakers 114–89 on Wednesday night.
Gobert had nine rebellions for Utah (26-6), winning the 22nd time in their last 24 matches – 20 of which were wins with double digits. Bojan Bogdanovic provided 15 points, Mike Conley 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Donovan Mitchell finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
LeBron James scored 19 points and Montragel Harrell added 16 to lead the Lakers (22-11), losing their fourth straight and fifth in six games. They were once again missing Anthony Davis (right calf), who was replaced in the All-Star Game by Devin Booker earlier in the day.
Back-to-back baskets from James and Mark Gasol gave the Lakers a 17-13 lead as Los Angeles hung on for a quarterback with Utah. But the last three quarters were of jazz.
Utah produced baskets on four straight possessions – starting with back-to-back buckets from Clarkson – to take a 35-25 lead in the second quarter. Clarkson, Royce O’Neill and Conley each hit a 3-pointer in that stretch. This was a sneak preview of Utah’s barrage of outside baskets.
The Jazz made eight 3-pointers during the second quarter and made 14 of 23 (.609) shots from long range in the first half. Mitchell followed with 3 and Gobert followed with back-to-back baskets on Uta’s final three possessions to create a 63-47 halftime lead.
The Jazz slammed the door early in the third quarter, when Gobert threw down back-to-back alley-top docks to extend Utah’s lead to 71-47.
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