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Five takeaways from the Lakers’ loss to the Jazz

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant scored 27 points against the Jazz on Thursday but missed six of his 13 free throws.
(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
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The Lakers improved Thursday. They lost by only 33 points to Utah after falling to Golden State by 41 last Sunday. Not many happy faces in their locker room after a 119-86 loss in Anaheim.

1) The Lakers seem almost scared to shoot a three-pointer. They took only five on Thursday, missing them all, after going 0-for-3 against Golden State.

2) Kobe Bryant still seems patient, pinning the Lakers’ issues on injuries and youth. “We’ve got a lot of guys sitting right now,” he said. “We’re playing with a lot of young kids. It’s been a little difficult.”

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3) Bryant’s 27 points were impressive, and it could have been better. He missed an uncharacteristic six of 13 free throws. Side note: He isn’t shying away from contact. He went right at Gordon Hayward on a fastbreak and drew a relatively hard foul.

4) Julius Randle didn’t appear in the second half, after missing a running layup and also a short jumper in the second quarter. He did have one nice move, a double-clutch spin move, though it came against the much skinnier Steve Novak.

5) It’s never a smart thing to analyze attendance at a Lakers game until late in the first quarter. Maybe even early second quarter. But there were a lot of empty seats at tip-off at Honda Center. And plenty the rest of the way, too. The announced attendance was 8,931.

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