Four Takeaways From The Lakers 116-108 Win Over The Utah Jazz

The Lakers had a strong performance from Anthony Davis, who scored 42 points, and set the tone early in helping clinch the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

Anthony Davis was aggressive and dominant, scoring 42 points to lead the Lakers to a 116-108 win over the Utah Jazz on Monday.  

The Lakers clinched top spot in the Western Conference for the first time since 2010. 

Here are four takeaways from Monday’s game. 

1. Anthony Davis was aggressive from the start for the Lakers. 

Midway through the first quarter, Davis already had taken eight shots, which was one more than all Jazz players combined. He had 42 points, including making four of his eight three-point attempts, and 12 rebounds and four assists. 

Davis finished the first half with 24 points on 17 shots, taking 10 more shots than he took in Saturday's loss to Toronto. Davis was making plays all over the court, offensively and defensively. He had a steal early in the first quarter and was all alone as he dunked it on the other end.

Anthony Davis cooked up 2️⃣4️⃣ in the first half. (via @Lakers) pic.twitter.com/4NVtvRxPFj

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) August 4, 2020

Davis scored from all ends of the court, with putback dunks, transition layups and three-pointers. He ended the game with a four-point play. 

2. The Lakers clinched the top seed in the Western Conference for the first time since the 2009-10 season, when Kobe Bryant and the Lakers last won the NBA title.

This is the 12th time since 1984 that the Lakers have earned the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. 

It was all but guaranteed to happen as all they needed was a win or a Clippers loss. The Lakers (51-15) are looking to win the franchise’s first NBA title in a decade. 

James recently said it’s too early to start thinking about who they will play in the first round of the playoffs, but Memphis, San Antonio, Portland, New Orleans, Sacramento and Phoenix are all still possibilities. 

3. LeBron James picked up where he left off on his MVP-caliber season by nearly having a triple-double. 

After the NBA season was suspended on March 11 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, James said he didn’t think a long layoff would be good for him at age 35, but his play has been solid in the first three seeding games. 

James scored 22 points and added eight rebounds and nine assists on Monday. 

James had a highlight reel play late in the fourth quarter, when he threw a no-look pass to Davis, who then jammed the basketball with one hand.  

LeBron swatted this 😮 pic.twitter.com/ePD70sb0pt

— ESPN (@espn) August 4, 2020

4. The Lakers' defense was on fire once again.

The Lakers defense was solid and forced the Jazz into committing 21 turnovers, which the Lakers scored 26 points off of. 

James had an incredible block at the top of the second quarter from behind to take away a transition layup by Utah’s Royce O’Neale. 

The Lakers had 12 steals, with Davis finishing with three and James, Dion Waiters, Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope each finishing with two.