Heading into Wednesday night’s contest against the Utah Jazz, the Los Angeles Lakers appeared poised to come out on top.
The Lakers had won each of their last six games prior to Wednesday’s contest and were taking on a Jazz team that they beat by 19 points on Monday night.
However, in a surprising turn of events, Los Angeles saw its winning streak come to an end on Wednesday night. Some lackluster play from the Lakers on the defensive side of the ball seemingly played a part in the loss, as Los Angeles gave up a whopping 131 points to the Jazz.
Longtime sports personality Skip Bayless took to X and blamed Luka Doncic and his porous defense for the Lakers’ ugly loss.
Looks like Luka is rubbing off on the Lakers, who played no defense at 12-40 Utah and gave up 131 in an embarrassing loss.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) February 13, 2025
Justified or not, Doncic has developed a reputation as someone who doesn’t always give his all on the less glamorous side of the floor. That narrative grew especially loud after the Dallas Mavericks fell to the Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals. Boston often attacked Doncic when it was on offense, and the Slovenian had a number of lapses trying to stick with the Celtics’ talented guards and wings.
1:24 of Luka Doncic playing the worst defense you will ever see in the NBA Finals. pic.twitter.com/88SRPe0All
— 𝙍𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙮 ☘️ (@CelticsRiley) June 13, 2024
But the fact that the Lakers couldn’t string together stops against the Jazz on Wednesday might have less to do with Doncic’s room for improvement as a defender and more to do with them feeling the absence of star big man Anthony Davis.
The rationale for the Lakers’ decision to move Davis in a trade for Doncic is clear, but Davis was the glue that held the team together on defense. He led the way for Los Angeles in defensive rebounds and blocks per game before he changed teams.
Frankly, the Lakers have struggled on the defensive end since the start of the month, as Los Angeles has given up 110-plus points in all but one game in that span. The storied franchise held the Los Angeles Clippers to just 97 points in a dominant victory back on Feb. 4, and guard Norman Powell was the only player to score 20-plus points for the Clippers in that contest.
