Lauri Markkanen Off To Hot Start Against Lakers

Feb 12, 2025, 7:43 PM | Updated: Feb 13, 2025, 4:37 pm

Digital Sports Producer

SALT LAKE CITY – Lauri Markkanen is going right at the Lakers in the opening quarter, leading Utah to a 33-30 advantage after one.

The Jazz (12-40) hosted the new-look Los Angeles Lakers (32-19) at Delta Center on Wednesday, February 12. LA enters the night riding the high of a six-game winning streak and sits fourth in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.

RELATED: Utah Jazz vs. LA Lakers Live Blog

catch & shoot three: helppo 🇫🇮#TakeNote | @markkanenlauri pic.twitter.com/d2KV2ERebM

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) February 13, 2025

The former All-Star knocked down an early three to get going before taking his talents to the basket in a show of force.

Markkanen used his seven-foot frame to attack the basket, getting the free-throw line for four freebies. He was 4-of-8 from the field with a pair of three in the quarter.

Los Angeles opened an early lead, but a five-point, five assists, and three rebound quarter from rookie Isaiah Collier helped Utah battle back.

Luka, LeBron lead Lakers past Jazz

A glance at the box score suggests that the Lakers executed a basketball masterclass on Monday night, but those who watched the game saw a less-than-inspired effort from the Jazz.

Five first-quarter turnovers and a 2-9 three-point shooting performance allowed the Jazz to fall behind by double-digits early in the contest. They never forced the Lakers to push Luka Dončić to the limit after missing 22 games with a calf injury.

The newest Lakers superstar scored 14 points on 14 shots in his Los Angeles debut, while LeBron James added 24 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds.

Dončić played only 25 minutes, adding five rebounds and four assists to the stat sheet as he coasted through his Lakers debut.

Luka’s first Lakers bucket 💧 pic.twitter.com/TCzV8W0lmu

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) February 11, 2025

“I don’t think we’ve seen anywhere close to kind of the peak of those two playing together and what that’s going to look like,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said.

The Jazz’s offensive was slow to make reads against a Lakers defense that was playing motivated but lacks traditional high-level stoppers.

Defensively, they were slow to react to the Lakers’ ball movement and couldn’t end possessions, allowing LA to grab 10 offensive rebounds while shooting 54 percent from the floor.

While the Jazz are tied for the second-fewest wins in the NBA, they’ve rarely been blown out wire-to-wire like in LA.

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“I think it was a night where we let missing shots or not getting shots or tough plays on that end bleed into our defense and our attention to detail,” Hardy added.

Perhaps the bright lights in Hollywood were too much for the young roster, or maybe they were exhausted from playing the third game of a three-game road trip, but the Jazz failed to show up in one of their most highly anticipated games of the season.

Jazz-Lakers Gameday Reading

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Tonight’s game against the Lakers is being televised on KJZZ, streamed on SEG+, and heard on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone.

Ben Anderson is the Utah Jazz insider for KSL Sports and the co-host of Jake and Ben from 10-12p with Jake Scott on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone. Find Ben on Twitter at @BensHoops, on Instagram @BensHoops, or on BlueSky.

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Brian Preece is a sports.ksl.com insider covering Locals in MLB and the Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees and Beehive baseball here. Find Brian on X and Instagram at @bpreece24.

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