The Los Angeles Lakers lost badly to the Phoenix Suns. On Saturday night, they went on the road to play the very hot Utah Jazz.

The Lakers couldn’t play because their best player, LeBron James, was hurt and couldn’t play. Finally, the Jazz won with a score of 132–123.

Since James wasn’t playing, the Lakers started D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves in the backcourt. They scored the first 19 points for the team and were their only source of attack.

Early on, the Jazz made it a point to double-team Anthony Davis. To find open shooters, he did what he could, and Taurean Prince and Max Christie made shots from deep.

Rui Hachimura came back after missing five games with a calf strain and made an instant impact with a huge dunk off the bench. Russell then made a buzzer-beating shot to end a great first quarter for the Lakers, who now lead 39–31.

Russell kept it up at the start of the second with two more buckets that made the lead 10 points. Christian Wood also scored five points in a short amount of time, including a 3-pointer.

The Jazz were still in the game, though, thanks to 3-point shots. Both Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson made them, cutting the Jazz’s lead back to four points.

For the end of the half, Davis made a nice putback dunk that gave the Lakers a 67-64 lead.

At the start of the third quarter, Davis came out strong, scoring four points in a row. However, the Jazz scored quickly from deep to take the lead. From there, things got a little rough because neither team could stop fouling, and Russell kept up his great scoring play for L.A.

Even so, Markkanen was hard for the Lakers to defend. He kept getting to the foul line and setting up teammates for easy three-point shots, which gave the Lakers a 100-95 lead at the end of the third.

Hachimura had a nice steal and a slam dunk to start the fourth quarter, but the Lakers still couldn’t stop Utah from making free throws. On the other hand, Hachimura was on fire, and L.A. got back within three.

Davis and the Lakers had trouble scoring in the fourth quarter, though, and Reaves fouled out while the Jazz kept getting very harsh calls.

The Lakers lost the game late because they turned the ball over a few times, and then Collin Sexton threw down a huge dunk that pretty much sealed the deal.

Russell did everything he could to keep the Lakers in the game, but it wasn’t enough, and they lost.

Russell scored 39 points, which was the most of his season. Davis had a triple-double with 15 points, 15 boards, 10 assists, and 4 blocks, even though he only made 5 of 21 field goal attempts.