Andre Drummond Lakers debut
Photo: Los Angeles Lakers/Twitter

The Los Angeles Lakers and the Utah Jazz exchanged wins in their last two games at Staples Center as the Western Conference leaders took the win on Monday. Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley returned to the lineup for the Jazz after missing the game a couple of days ago.

Lakers center Andre Drummond thought that his team lost the game due to slow start and missed shots. “I think we started off really slow this game,” he said postgame.

“Probably just a little bit of heavy legs from the last game being the OT. Those guys coming in fresh so they had a lot of energy. I think we can’t allow ourselves to start like that because it’s hard to fight back from games like that.

“Shots just weren’t falling for us,” Drummond talked about the Lakers attempt to stage a comeback. “The shots we normally make, they were just rimming in and out. Myself especially, shots that I normally make just go in and out of the hoop. And just careless mistakes with turnovers too down the the stretch of the game that allowed them to start clicking all cylinders on both ends of the court.”

Despite the loss, the reigning NBA champions remain in the fifth place in the Western Conference. However, the gap between them and the fourth-placed Nuggets is now two wins.