Without LeBron James once again, the Los Angeles Lakers fought hard against the Utah Jazz, but they simply lacked the firepower and manpower to mount a serious challenge on Thursday.
At times, L.A. looked competitive, as it did some things somewhat well, but it never held a lead in 48 minutes at Vivant Arena in Salt Lake City and ended up losing 122-109.
Yet again, defense was where the Lakers fell short, as they allowed Utah to shoot 51.1 percent from the field and Donovan Mitchell to score 29 points with seven assists in 32 minutes.
Perhaps James and even Anthony Davis will return tomorrow when the Lakers play the New Orleans Pelicans at home, but each loss is extremely costly at this point.