SALT LAKE CITY — The clock ticked down and the ball, like it has for most of the last two decades of professional basketball, was in LeBron James’ hands.
It’s been the recipe for years, James hunting the matchup on the court he wants, then methodically picking it apart with a combination of speed, strength and skill that’s been unmatched for most of the NBA’s history.
But this isn’t the basketball JJ Redick wants the Lakers to play, and quite frankly, this might not be the best version of basketball for a player in his 22nd NBA season, even if that player has scored more points than anyone ever to play in the league.
“This is my lowest usage rate of my career,” James would say later Sunday night (It’s actually his lowest usage rate since his rookie season). “So it’s an adjustment.”
But with the Lakers missing Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell and the young Jazz defense ripe for some bullying, the Lakers switched up.
“It felt like normal for myself,” James said. “But the way we want to play this year is a little bit different and I’m adjusting to it as well.”
Sunday, the styles collided with James doing it the old-fashioned way in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 105-104 win against the Jazz.
“We really slowed things down in the second half and tried to get the matchup we wanted for LeBron to just handle in that pick-and-roll,” Redick said. “And truthfully, that was the best offense we were going to generate. So whether we missed or made it, we just kept going to that. I thought we got some clean looks that could have given us a little bit more of a cushion. But I liked our execution offensively.”
Throughout the fourth, James was relentless in trying to find ways to score, the Lakers attacking Utah second-year guard Keyonte George. On one crucial possession in the fourth, the Lakers grabbed offensive rebound after offensive rebound only for James to miss three three-pointers on the same possession.
In the fourth quarter, James took 14 shots — more than he has in four games this season. He only made five and missed all six of his threes.
Still, James had 27 and Anthony Davis scored 33, the two combining for 53 of the Lakers’ 88 shot attempts.
“As a staff today we said, ‘LeBron and AD should shoot 25 or more times tonight.’ We accomplished that goal,” Redick said. “That was going to be our best offense tonight.”
They dodged a bullet in the fourth when the Jazz had a chance to win, though Utah coach Will Hardy got awarded a timeout as Collin Sexton drove to the basket and scored what could’ve been the game-winning basket.
“I stopped,” Davis said. “He ended up making it. I don’t know if he would’ve ended up making it. I probably would have blocked it.”
The Lakers might still be in the weeds when it comes to Reaves, Russell and Cam Reddish on Monday in Minneapolis.
The symptoms for those affected are real. For Russell and Reddish, it was illnesses that made them unable to come to the arena Sunday. And for Reaves, it was soreness from a scary fall Friday that made standing even a bit of a dicey situation.
But the NBA world is an unsympathetic one. And problems for Reaves, Russell and Reddish meant opportunities for Gabe Vincent, Max Christie and forgotten second-year guard Jalen Hood-Schifino.
Reaves’ back injury, which the Lakers are calling a left pelvic contusion, ended a streak of appearing in 129 straight regular season games, a stretch that’s also included 21 playoff games, two play-in games and one in-season tournament final.
Starting a four-game trip minus 40% of their regular rotation (including the injured Jaxson Hayes), the players around James and Davis had no choice other than to figure it out.
Vincent scored a season-high 10 points and forced a key late turnover when he aggressively defended John Collins in the post. Christie bounced back from his late-game gaffe against Oklahoma City to score 12 points and grab five rebounds. And Hood-Schifino, playing in his first game since the Lakers declined their third-year option on his rookie contract, contributed on the defensive end.
“We have a saying no matter, who’s playing, it’s how we play,” Davis said.
Sunday, they did it a different way. Monday, it might have to be the other way. And that’s more than OK.