Ricky Rubio scored 31 points on 10 of 16 shooting, dished out eight assists and collected six rebounds to lead the Utah Jazz to a 117-110 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.
Donovan Mitchell added 26 points while Rudy Gobert chipped in 12 points, 16 rebounds and five assists. Six players scored in double figures to lead the Jazz (45-33) to their third straight win.
Utah is in fifth place in the Western Conference, a half-game up on Oklahoma City, which lost Tuesday to Golden State, and a half-game behind San Antonio, which is playing the Los Angeles Clippers.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma each scored 26 points to lead the Lakers.
Los Angeles (33-44) hung tough with Utah despite only having nine players available. Brandon Ingram missed his second straight game (concussion) and Lonzo Ball was sidelined for a third consecutive game (left knee contusion).
Los Angeles scored on nine straight possessions to open the game. The Lakers made eight straight baskets without a miss to open up a 20-11 lead. Kuzma did most of the damage in that stretch, hitting all four of his first quarter baskets.
The Jazz cut the deficit to 22-20 on a turnaround jumper from Mitchell. Utah couldn’t erase the lead entirely. Mitchell gave the ball away on two separate bad passes in less than a minute and Los Angeles scored off each turnover.
The Lakers eventually built up a double-digit lead early in the second quarter. They went ahead 43-31 behind a 9-0 run capped by a floater from Tyler Ennis.
That lead didn’t last long once Rubio took over just before halftime. Rubio scored 15 points over the final 6:28 of the second quarter. He capped it off with baskets on back-to-back possessions in the final minute to give Utah a 65-60 halftime lead. Rubio had 25 first-half points, a season-high for any Jazz player.
The Jazz eventually built up a 15-point lead in the third quarter, going up 91-76 when Mitchell drained back-to-back 3-pointers. Los Angeles still had a run left in it.
The Lakers cut it to 95-91 on Josh Hart’s jumper to open the fourth quarter, but could get no closer. Utah reclaimed a 113-102 lead on an Ingles 3-pointer with 2:26 left.
–Field Level Media
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