D'Angelo Russell air balls game winner as Lakers fall to Jazz

D'Angelo Russell, the second-year point guard, air balled a game winning shot Tuesday as the Los Angeles Lakers (12-23) suffered a heart-breaking 102-100 defeat to the Utah Jazz (19-13) at the Staples Center.

After Jazz centre Rudy Gobert missed a pair of free throws, the Lakers had nearly 13 seconds to either tie the game at 102 or hit the game-winning three-pointer. With three seconds left, Russell missed a 26-foot shot as the Jazz escaped Los Angeles with a hard-fought victory.

With 21.6 seconds left, Australian Joe Ingles had made a clutch three-pointer to give the Jazz a 102-100 lead.

D'Angelo Russell has a cold shooting night, Lakers struggle to close out game

Russell had a poor shooting night, going 2/11 from the field for his 4 points and 4 assists. Julius Randle was the only Lakers starter to score in double-digits, finishing with 25 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists. While veteran Luol Deng made his presence felt on both ends of floor for his 9 points and 9 assists, centre Timofey Mozgov struggled to keep pace with the younger and more athletic Gobert.

Lou Williams, who leads all Lakers in scoring this season, had another solid outing -- finishing with 22 points and 3 assists from 27 minutes off the bench. Jordan Clarkson had 12 points from 26 minutes off the bench. Rookie Brandon Ingram played good defence but could not stop Jazz's Gordon Hayward from dominating their match-up.

Hayward, undoubtedly Jazz's best player, was the star of the show -- finishing with 31 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists. Utah also got 40 points off its bench with Joe Johnson (10 points), Joe Ingles (13 points) and Boris Diaw (10 points) making useful contributions. Rodney Hood had a poor shooting night but it didn't seem to hurt the Jazz due to the production from the second unit.

The Lakers, led by Deng, played impressive defence during the first half, causing the Jazz to cough up 11 turnovers while also out-rebounding them by a 24-19 margin. However, the Jazz showed more hustle in the second half but struggled to put the young Lakers team away until the last buzzer.

D'Angelo Russell and the Lakers will next host the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday.