Lakers hold off the NBA-leading Jazz in overtime
Dennis Schröder hit the tying basket to force overtime and finished with 25 points, and the Los Angeles Lakers held off the visiting Utah Jazz 127-115 on Saturday in a game between short-handed teams.
Schröder got by Royce O’Neale for a layup with 3 seconds remaining to tie it at 110 and force overtime after the Lakers got outscored 28-16 in the fourth.
Andre Drummond added 27 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 25 points for the Lakers, who blew a 14-point lead early in the fourth before outscoring Utah 17-5 in the extra session.
“We clicked on all cylinders and we didn’t allow adversity to get us out of our game,” Drummond said. “The chemistry is getting there.”
The NBA-leading Jazz were without injured starters Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert. Mitchell will be out at least a week with a sprained right ankle he sustained in a win over Indiana on Friday night. An MRI showed there was no structural damage.
Jordan Clarkson led Utah with 27 points against his former team. Ersan Ilyasova added a season-high 20 points before fouling out in overtime and Joe Ingles had 20 points and a career-hightying 14 assists. Bojan Bogdanovic had 19 points as Utah’s two-game winning streak ended.
“We’re missing four pretty important guys,” Ingles said. “For most of the game, we did a pretty good job. We were one stop away from winning the game.”
Injured Lakers superstars Anthony Davis and LeBron James watched in street clothes. But the Lakers had new addition Drummond and Markieff Morris back in the lineup, along with Kyle Kuzma and Schröder. All four had been dealing with various ailments.
“He’s always in the moment,” Morris said of Schröder. “Tonight we needed him to score more. He made some great plays at the end of the game. We’re getting to the point where everybody knows each other’s game. We need that camaraderie.”
Clarkson hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 8.7 seconds left in regulation. He had 10 points in the fourth, when the Jazz opened with an 18-4 run to get within two. Schröder scored the Lakers’ final six points of regulation.
“We made more in-game adjustments than we have all year just to counter their attack,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “To have a team storm back and take the lead and (us) not panic is definitely something we can draw on going forward. We’ll have this experience to know that we’ll prevail.”
BULLS 106, CAVALIERS 96 >>
Nikola Vucevic scored 25 points, Lauri Markkanen had 16 off the bench and Chicago beat visiting Cleveland to snap a five-game losing streak.
Denzel Valentine added 13 points off the bench as the Chicago reserves accounted for 45 points.
The Bulls were playing for a second straight game without All-Star Zach LaVine, who is in the NBA’s health and safety protocol and not with the team.
Colin Sexton and Darius Garland had 22 points apiece as the Cavaliers lost their fourth in five games.
WIZARDS 121, PISTONS 100 >>
Russell Westbrook had his 25th triple-double of the season, Bradley Beal scored 37 points and host Washington beat Detroit.
Westbrook finished with 15 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists in the fourth straight win for Washington.
He has 17 triple-doubles, 10 shy of Oscar Robertson’s record.
Isaiah Stewart and Frank Jackson each scored 19 points for Detroit.
Washington lost two starters during the game. Center Alex Len left with ankle soreness after scoring eight points in seven minutes, and in the third quarter forward Rui Hachimura exited with soreness in his left leg.