Will Hardy on Jazz's Blowout vs. Lakers: 'We Got Our Butts Kicked'

The Utah Jazz were in front of the bright lights on ESPN with a big matchup, facing the Los Angeles Lakers and going up against Luka Doncic in his debut with the storied franchise on Monday night.

And it's safe to say the Jazz couldn't quite do enough to pull a win together.

The Jazz came up short vs. Los Angeles 132-113 to lose their third game against them this season, and it wasn't quite their best effort. They entered the half in a major 25-point deficit, shot a collective 30% from the three-point line, and let seven Lakers score in double-figures.

It wasn't pretty, and when you ask Jazz head coach Will Hardy on Monday's performance, he'd fully agree.

"We got our butts kicked," Hardy said after the loss. "We got physically dominated in a lot of ways tonight. I think that the attention to detail, the individual defense, the initial shifts, they just weren't there. I thought our activity as a whole was pretty poor on the defensive end tonight. 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."

The Jazz had a balanced attack on their own side of the ball. Like the Lakers, they had seven players who scored in double-digits on the night, but none breaking 20 points, as John Collins and Lauri Markkanen led the way with 17.

As for Luka Doncic, he kept things mainly quiet in his debut on a minutes restriction, but still managed to have a few highlights. In 24 minutes, he had 14 points, five rebounds, and four assists, capping the performance off with his first Lakers victory.

But regardless of the lapses the Jazz faced against these Luka Lakers, Coach Hardy says having a chance to experience the electric Los Angeles environment with the heightened circumstances was a major positive for this young group.

"This game, playing in that environment for our team is so good," Hardy said. "Because there's levels to this. To be in that building with the heightened emotion and the buzz in the room, it's good for our guys to understand what's necessary in those moments. How it's going to feel, how it's going to make you feel, and now we have to navigate all of those emotions."

The Jazz will be able to turn around to change the script rather quickly. Utah will be back up against Los Angeles at the Delta Center on Wednesday night for their fourth and final meeting of the 2024-25 regular season.

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