Stanley Johnson, reserve for Lakers rally against Jazz – Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES – New Stanley Johnson can only plan his future with the Lakers in 10 days.

So far, the Lakers have been pleased to let the prominent former Mater Dei High 25-year-old stay on the roster with short-term deals: On Monday morning, he signed his third 10-day contract with the team. After that night, Johnson gave the Lakers’ office a lot to think about.

Johnson’s two-way effort is testament to the comeback the Lakers (22-22) completed against the visitors Utah Jazz (29-15), a 101-95 victory made up of some of the best defenses that the team has played. The Lakers played throughout the season. The 6-foot-7 forward was key to the bench driven division that erased the Jazz’s nine-point lead 19-6 in the fourth half, scoring consecutive goals for the Lakers in important stage.

“I think it feels great to do what I’m here to do,” said Johnson, who started on duty at Christmas and has been a regular since. “I think I come to bring energy and affect the game in different ways and like a curve to what the teams are used to and what they have seen. And I feel like today is the day that I can do that. ”

On Sunday night, LeBron James apologized via Twitter for the Lakers’ 37-point loss to the Denver Nuggets the night before, promising a better attempt. But even the most optimists are unlikely to see such a rapid change after the Lakers lost three games in a row while dropping at least 125 points in each.

James said he decided not to speak to the media after his worst defeat of the season because, “I don’t like what’s coming out of my mouth.” But he wants to tell the fans that he expects more from himself and the team.

“We weren’t playing to our full potential and we weren’t giving our best,” he said. “So that started with me as the leader of the team, and so just get started and let the Laker Nation know. … It’s about our fans and the people who ride and die with us every day. Let them know I got this and it won’t happen again.”

James was part of the solution, scoring a team-best 25 with seven rebounds and seven assists. He spurred the team that had assembled the Lakers back into the game: the Jazz scored just six goals in the fourth half against a lineup of mostly the team’s youngest players.

A key key is that the Lakers have more muscle from their bench (44 points) than they did Saturday in Denver, when none of the subs scored double figures. The most impressive effort came from Johnson, who started driving to the rim with purpose in the crucial fourth inning: Johnson scored 10 of his 15 points in the inning, all in between eight minutes. until 5:35pm.

He credits James with tactical advice on how to attack 7-foot-1 Rudy Gobert, the three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year. While he spent most of the night grappling with Utah’s big man for the right to bounce back and trying to block his own shots toward goal, Johnson got his revenge in the third half. fourth – in no small part because James set up the doze screens.

“LeBron is a smart player, so (when he said), ‘Let’s do this,’ OK, I’ll do it. ‘Do this.’ Okay, I’ll do it too,” Johnson said. “Just as simple as that. He saw something.”

With just two and a half minutes left, Johnson provided an assist for Avery Bradley in the corner to give the Lakers a six-point lead, another crucial game to play in the game.

Johnson, who got 7 points and 9 from the field and also had 7 rebounds, was one of three subs to score double-digits, along with Malik Monk (14 points) and Talen Horton-Tucker (11 points). But he’s the only one who doesn’t have a spot on the full-season roster, which the Lakers could give him when his latest 10-day contract comes to an end.

Mike Conley had 20 points and Gobert had 19 points and 16 rebounds for the Jazz, but Utah shot only 36.9% from the floor, late in defeat by the Lakers’ heavy formation.

“Our transformation tonight was much better than the one against Denver,” said Lakers coach Frank Vogel. “It was the biggest growth area in 24 hours or 48 hours, whatever it was.”

Russell Westbrook was sidelined for most of the fourth inning, but he made an impact late in the inning, especially with one and a break with just 40 seconds left to seal the win. He finished with 15 points.

Westbrook provided one of the highlights of the season, rising with a one-handed hit against Gobert. As the crowd of 17,283 stood up in fear, Westbrook tried his best to get out of it – taunting Gobert to the point where he was whistled for a technical foul.

It’s a breath of fresh air for Westbrook, who is yet to record a single jump in 2022. But the 33-year-old played it casually when asked about it, and when a reporter hinted that onlookers wondered if he still had the lift. Westbrook chuckled: “That’s their problem.”