Utah Jazz

Utah Jazz Hold Slight Edge Over LA Lakers at the Half

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Gordon Hayward and the Utah Jazz dropped 57 on the Los Angeles Lakers in the first half of their game in Monday night.

For the first time in a Post-Kobe world, the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Lakers are doing battle tonight. And while the gang in navy, green and gold are shorthanded, the Lake Show is having injury problems of their own. As such, Brandon Ingram actually got the start at point guard.

As one might expect, this wasn’t the recipe for success.

The Jazz started quickly and went on a quick run to put the Jazz up 8-1. Gordon Hayward got a few easy buckets and was rewarded with free throws for staying aggressive and taking it to the Lakers defense.

Timofey Mozgov somehow got a foul called for him where he was over the back of Dante Exum. Shelvin Mack subbed in and immediately the Lakers went on a little run to close the gap. Mack had a few plays later in the first where it seemed like he was playing completely out of control. On one occasion, he almost got himself trapped in a triple team situation and lost the ball. It appears the the scouting report on Mack is floating around the league.

The game was tied at 26 after one following a powerful dunk by Tarik Black. Black’s value for the Lakers cannot be overstated. He’s seemed like an underrated glue guy for that team for most of the game.

Meanwhile, Lou Williams was an instant spark off the bench for the Lakers and gave them a three to four-point advantage for most of the second quarter. Thankfully, Rodney Hood was able to spark a little run midway through the quarter. Boris Diaw was also strong, hitting all five of his field goal attempts for 12 points, while dishing out four assists.

However, the Lakers did a very good job of scoring every time the Jazz took the lead.

L.A. was able to come right back at them when the chips were down and take the lead back.

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The Lakers clung to an one-point lead as the second quarter waned before the Jazz used a mini-run to build a nice little four-point lead before the break. In total, the team put 57 on a struggling Lakers defense in the half.

The Jazz are one of the better second-half teams in the league. Hopefully that proves true tonight. Let’s go Utah!

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Utah Jazz

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