The Lakers (11-4) have accomplished a lot without James in their first 14 games. Luka Doncic began his Most Valuable Player campaign and rose to the top of the NBA leaderboard. Austin Reeves achieves career averages in almost all areas. Some wondered how much the team would actually benefit from James' return when it was already off to a 10-4 start.
The Lakers then scored a season-high 140 points, shot a season-best 59.5% from the field and focused on defense, scoring just 32 points in the first 21 minutes of the second half before the benches cleared.
“I can get along with anyone,” James said. “I don't even understand why that was a question.”
Doncic continued his hot streak with 37 points and 10 assists, but had eight turnovers. Reeves had 26 points.
Lakers praise early season chemistry and coach JJ Redick praised his players for surviving difficult times. He intentionally changed the structure of timeouts to give players time to talk privately before coaches joined them, hoping that the opportunities for communication between players would foster greater team chemistry. Adding James' voice to the conversation proved to be an easy transition.
“We're a young team, I'm glad we took charge before LeBron took the field,” Ayton said. “I'm glad we went through the tough games, the little struggles, the ups and downs and the adversity. And it made us prepare for those times when he says one thing and we immediately do it.”
The Jazz (5-9) pushed back the Lakers, with guard Keyontae George making five threes in the first half and 23 of his points on 15 shots. Utah jumped out to an 11-point halftime lead, but the Lakers tied the game with 18.8 seconds left in the second quarter and went into the break with a four-point lead, ready to make a run.
“I think the word we used as a coaching staff was our balance as a group,” Redick said. “Don't overreact, don't get torn apart, solve problems and all that stuff in real time. Just keep playing. That's what was missing at times last year and for us to get that on the first night.” [fully healthy] It was really good.”
