As a Laker fan, you cannot help but be proud of these guys. Sure, they lost to the Utah Jazz, 96-89, but they clawed, scrapped, scratched, bit, punched, kicked, and screamed (okay, not really screamed) the entire game. Even if they did a lot of things fundamentally wrong. They kept within distance the whole time in a game that’s decidedly not tailor-made for them.
The Lakers shot a not-so-good 38.1 percent but they battled back and held the Jazz to 41.3 percent shooting. It was the little things that gave the Jazz the duke here.