LOS ANGELES _ What seemed on its face like a blessing turned out to be a curse in disguise for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Utah center Rudy Gobert missed two free throws with 13.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Lakers tried to run a play that had been designed with the expectation that Gobert would make at least one.
The result was point guard D'Angelo Russell attempting a deep, contested three-pointer. The shot fell short of the rim, only grazing the bottom of the net, and the clock ran out on the Lakers in a 102-100 loss to the Jazz at Staples Center.
"We didn't assume that he was going to miss both (attempts) at the free-throw line," Russell said. "We still got a play up and it came down to us not making shots. That was tough."
Russell finished with four points on two-for-11 shooting with four assists for the Lakers, who fell to 12-23. Forward Julius Randle led the team with 25 points and 12 rebounds, and guard Lou Williams had 22 points.
Jazz forward Gordon Hayward scored a game-high 31 points on 10-for-17 shooting, though 27 of those points came in the first three quarters.
Being home after a long trip meant the Lakers had time, finally, to really practice.
The dominant theme during those practices?
"Defense," coach Luke Walton said.
It's still a work in progress, though, as the Jazz became the fourth team in the last six games to shoot better than 50 percent from the field against the Lakers. But the Lakers' defense Tuesday night at least gave them a chance, more so than in the rest of their December losses.
A perhaps bigger issue was their four-for-16 three-point shooting. They shot 47 percent overall.
"The message is, we had a chance to win because of our defense," Walton said. "We did not shoot the ball well tonight. ... If we played defense tonight like we have been and we weren't making our three-point shots, we lose by 15, 10 points and we don't even have a chance at the end."
After a shot-clock violation by the Lakers, Utah's Joe Ingles hit an open three-pointer to break a 99-99 tie with about 21 seconds left.
The Lakers countered as Randle drove into the paint and was fouled while shooting. The ball rimmed out, and Randle slammed his hand on the court in frustration. A three-point play would have tied it. Then Randle, whose back-to-back jumpers had given the Lakers a 99-97 lead, made only one of two free throws.
Down two, Walton sent Williams into the game with a play to run on the last possession. The play would follow the Lakers fouling Gobert, a 68 percent free-throw shooter.
That play Walton called didn't account for Gobert missing both free throws. Instead of finding a way to get to the basket, the Lakers' pace and spacing forced a deep attempt by Russell. Walton took the blame for the final play, saying Russell was only trying to follow instructions.
"The teaching moment from that is that a (two)-point game, if we have no timeouts, we have our shooting lineup out there, let's get that floor spaced and look to get downhill," Walton said. "Make the defense collapse and if they don't, we don't need to run that, the play that we had on in a (two)-point game."
