‘We got our shutters kicked’: Jazz falls flat in Luka Doncic’s memorable debut with Lakers

Los Angeles – Utah Jazz has often been a footnote in Los Angeles Lakers’ history.

The choice that Lakers used to choose Magic Johnson? Originally owned by jazz.

The team that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke NBA’s scoring record at all times against? Jepp, Jazz.

Kobe Bryant’s last game when he fell 60? Against the jazz.

So of course it was the jazz that was on the schedule for Luka Doncic’s first match in Purple and Gold. And once again, the Lakers fans left another loving memory.

Doncic ended with 14 points, five rebounds and four assists when Lakers directed jazz 132-113 on Monday at Crypto.com Arena.

“Tonight is not about us,” said jazz coach, as Hardy said before the game.

So much was obvious.

You could have thrown the Washington General or the nearby Sierra Canyon Prep basketball team against Lakers and the NBA would still have fallen down on Los Angeles.

Monday’s game was about NBA’s most famous franchise, which offers its latest Singestar Super Star-Wilt, Kareem, Magic, Shaq, Kobe, LeBron and now Luka. It wasn’t a party; It felt more like a coronation for a new king of Los Angeles and potentially a new era of the NBA.

Long before Tipoff time, Crypto.com Arena was full, where many fans stood around just by trying to take a video or catch a glimpse of Doncic’s warm-up shot.

The first time Doncic touched the ball, the crowd rose in anticipation. As he dropped his first assist – a short lob to Jaxon Hayes – the fans broke out. And when he hit his first shot-a step-back 3-pointer over Walker Kessler-felt the trade that shocked the NBA world, as if it finally sank in fully.

Yes, Doncic is actually a member of Lakers.

Jazz offered some resistance to Los Angeles’ happy evening.

Doncic smiled as he zipped passed across the field and took his patented step-backs. LeBron James, apparently freed from an oversized offensive burden, ran wild, ended with 24 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.

“I don’t think we’ve seen somewhere close to the kind of top of these two that play together and what it will look like,” Hardy said. “I felt there were so many other areas of the game where we fought. I don’t take anything away from Luka and LeBron – they played both good games – but I don’t feel like, in the end, that’s why we lost.

To be fair, the new superstar -duo did not have to be a place close to their peak towards Utah. The two mostly felt each other against the overpowered jazz.

In the end, Utah may not have been ready for such a light. Lakers led with 12 points in the first quarter and 25 at the break, which made easy work for a team that was not used to being in such moments.

“We got our shutters kicked,” Hardy said. “We were physically dominated in many ways tonight.”

Jazz was cooked when it changed defense with James, Doncic and Austin Reaves, who fed the hyped audience to build an early Laker’s advantage. And when a few shots fell, the Utah rope let go pretty quickly.

Hardy said Utah’s attention to details wasn’t there Monday and the overall defensive activity was “pretty bad.”

It was a bit of a disappointment considering the moment.

Hardy talked before the game about how he wanted his team to lean into the increased energy and enjoy the game’s big stage. He left a little surprised how things ended – not from a result point of view, but more an energy.

“That’s not what I expected,” he said. “But I get out of the fact that there are probably nerves, there are probably a lot of things and feelings going to play in that game. I try not to get an apology for someone or us as a group. We didn’t play well But I almost expected the game to be rooted, as more reckless, more crashed into each other and flying around.

Instead, the jazz tried, he said “playing too perfect” and the result was anything but Monday.

The game gave a young Utah team a taste of what it takes to compete at the highest levels of the sport. Jordan Clarkson, John Collins and Lauri Markkanen (though only in a play-in game) are the only players on the schedule who have played in playoff-like games.

Utah’s first step into that type of environment did not end well; And now it’s all about trying to learn from it.

“We have to learn not to be rattled by opponents big time shots or similar things,” Kessler said. “It’s a continuous training process and continuous learning process.… Whatever people will say about us, I think we’re very elastic and I think we’re coming out. We’re losing some hard but in a long run it will make us good.

It will probably, but Monday it felt like jazz was only the ceremonial opponent for another great moment in Laker’s history.

The main takeaways for this article were generated with the help of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article itself is only humanly written.