SALT LAKE CITY • The Los Angeles Lakers have a message for their critics: Judge us in the play-offs.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) champions slipped to their fourth straight defeat, going down 114-89 to the Utah Jazz, the league's best team, on Wednesday.
Rudy Gobert and Jordan Clarkson, off the bench, each had a team-high 18 points as the hosts earned their 22nd win in 24 games.
It also marked the 20th time in the run that the Jazz have won by double digits, serving notice to the rest of the NBA that the team, who perennially reach the play-offs without making much of an impact thereafter, have designs on a maiden championship.
Finals Most Valuable Player LeBron James scored a game-high 19 points but did not have much help elsewhere in what was the Lakers' biggest loss of the season.
Since Anthony Davis was sidelined with an Achilles injury over 10 days ago, Los Angeles have lost four of the five games he has missed, their worst skid in two seasons.
They may have to get used to more defeats as the All-Star, the team's second-most important player after James, is not expected to return until late next month.
To make matters worse, starter Dennis Schroder has missed their past four games due to the NBA's Covid-19 protocols, depriving the Lakers of a two-way player who can handle the ball and apply pressure defensively.
The German guard is set to return against the Portland Trail Blazers today in what will be a big boost and while James admitted there might be more bumps until Davis is back in the fold, he believes the play-offs will be the true measure of his team.
"It's a tough stretch for us," the forward said. "You know this won't define who we will be for the rest of the season and for the long haul. That's for sure.
"Always the best teacher in life is experience. You know, for us to be going through this right now, I think it's going to benefit our team tremendously.
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22-8 Three-pointers the Jazz made (from 48 attempts) against the Lakers (33).
"We see the Jazz, we know they beat our ass tonight. But in the play-offs, it's a different story."
The Lakers, third in the Western Conference, remain well on course to make the post-season with a 22-11 record, behind the league-leading Jazz (26-6).
Meanwhile, the NBA released its schedule for the second half of the regular season on Wednesday, a jam-packed programme designed to have all 30 teams complete 72 games despite coronavirus disruptions.
With 29 games postponed so far - mainly due to the pandemic as well as the Texas snowstorm - a handful of teams face a tough race to the finish when the second half of the season begins after the March 5-10 All-Star Break.
Those teams include the Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks. The second-half schedule concludes on May 16, to be followed by a play-in tournament from May 18-21.
That will feature four teams in each conference battling for the final two play-off spots in the East and West. The play-offs begin on May 22.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
