Lakers bounce back against the Jazz

Photo from: actionnetwork.com

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Lakers won a must-needed game against the Utah Jazz 101-95. This put the Lakers from ninth place in the Western Conference to seventh place and back at .500.

Coming into the game, the Lakers lose three straight with an embarrassing blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets 133-96. The frustrations from the losses resulted in criticism by Magic Johnson who rip the team on Twitter after losing to the Nuggets.

After being blown out by the Nuggets 133-96, we as @Lakers fans can accept being outplayed but we deserve more than a lack of effort and no sense of urgency. Owner @JeanieBuss, you deserve better.

There was also a tweet by Lebron who apologize to the Lakers fans and promise that they would do better.

#LakerNation I apologize and I promise we’ll be better!

After the performance by Lebron and the other Lakers teammates versus the Jazz, the promise could become reality. Lebron scored 25 pts and had 7 rebounds and assists to lead the Lakers to victory. Russell Westbrook with 15 pts and Malik Monk with 14 pts also help the Lakers as well in the win.

Then Stanley Johnson, who signed another 10-day contract, performed huge for the Lakers scoring an additional 15 pts with seven-to-nine shooting and scoring 10 pts in the fourth quarter.

There was a moment in the game where Westbrook made the best dunk so far this season. He posturized the Jazz center Ruby Gobert in the second quarter.

This game showed what the Lakers have to accomplish this season which is showing aggression on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, players besides Lebron and Monk showing brings up, and making great shoot selections with superb ball movement. Most importantly, the Lakers followed Johnson’s comment about having a “sense of urgency” which could motivate them in riding the momentum on Friday versus the determined New York Knicks (22-22).

Although the team won versus the Jazz, Vogel is still in the hot seat with his head coaching position. They’re reports of the Lakers Head Coach Frank Vogel’s job on the line which creates pressure for Vogel to produce more wins moving forward in the season.

The pressure of Vogel keeping his head coaching job and the Lakers trying to continue this momentum is going to be some matters Lakers fans would focus on, but this win brings some positivity as the season progresses.