CALIFORNIA – Los Angeles Lakers leaned on Stanley Johnson’s fourth quarter exploits to score a 101-95 triumph over Utah Jazz in the 2021-2022 NBA Season on Monday night (Tuesday in the Philippines) at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Down 74-83 midway in the fourth quarter, Johnson came up with consecutive inside conversions followed by two free throws by LeBron James. The Lakers took an 89-85 lead.
The Jazz kept the match close at 89-91 but a three-pointer by Avery Bradley followed by five straight points from Russell Westbrook widened Lakers’ lead to 100-90 with 24 seconds left.
Johnson, who is on a 10-day contract with the team, finished the match with 15 points, with eight coming in the fourth quarter. The Lakers snapped a three-game losing skid to improve to 22-22.
James tallied 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Westbrook added 15 and eight rebounds, while Malik Monk and Talen Horton-Tucker ended up with 14 and 11 markers, respectively, for the Lakers.
On the other hand, Mike Conley top-scored with 20 points, including five three-point conversions, while Rudy Gobert had double-double 19 points and 16 rebounds as the Jazz dropped to 29-15.
In other games, Phoenix Suns (34-9) leaned on a strong fourth quarter assault and held off San Antonio Spurs (16-28), 121-107, at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.
Down 98-97, the Suns leaned on consecutive hits by Cameron Johnson, Cameron Payne, Chris Paul and Mikal Bridges as they surged to a 111-100 advantage.
The Spurs trimmed the deficit to single digit but Devin Bookers answered with back-to-back two-pointers as the Suns widened the lead to 119-104 with over a minute remaining.
Booker scored season-high 48 points, Bismack Biyombo added double-double 17 points and 14 rebounds, while Paul chipped in double-double 15 points and 12 assists for Phoenix.
BOX SCORE:
LOS ANGELES 101 — James 25, Westbrook 15, Johnson 15, Monk 14, Horton-Tucker 11, Bradley 9, Howard 4, Ariza 4, Reaves 4.
UTAH 95 — Conley 20, Gobert 19, Mitchell 13, O’Neale 13, Gay 9, Ingles 9, Clarkson 6, Bogdanovic 5, Forrest 1, Paschall 0.
Quarterscores: 24-25, 52-46, 72-78, 101-95./PN
