In the absence of LeBron James, Anthony Davis' second career triple-double wasn't quite enough to deliver a road win for the Los Angeles Lakers, who fell to the Utah Jazz, 132-125, at the Delta Center on Saturday night.

AD finished with 15 points, 15 rebounds, 11 assists (career-high), and four blocks — his first triple-double of the season. But, he committed six (of the Lakers' 12) turnovers and shot 5-for-21 from the field. He was a -12 in 39 minutes as he faced a slew of double-teams and missed a handful of makable looks.

“Yeah, I can already see the headlines: AD sucks, AD can't do this, can't do that,” said Austin Reaves. “He had a tough night shooting the ball. Other than that, he was fantastic. … From the gate, they were doubling him. He was making the right play.”

By contrast, Utah's frontcourt duo of Lauri Markkanen (29 points, nine rebounds) and John Collins (19 points, 13 rebounds) feasted. The Jazz — one of the NBA's best rebounding teams — pulled down 12 more boards than the Lakers. Utah's undeterred, downhill paint attack resulted in 38 free throws, of which they converted 36.

“We fouled a lot,” noted Davis. “But our guys, I mean, at the end, everyone did their job except me. I didn't do my job.”

AD can be forgiven for a rare off-night scoring the ball. Unfortunately, the stammering Lakers simply couldn't afford it against a surging Jazz squad in a rowdy atmosphere with LeBron nursing a sore ankle in street clothes.

“He's hard on himself,” Darvin Ham said about Davis. “But, if you want to call 15, 15 and 11 ‘average', that just lets you know how special he is. … It's unfortunate, bad timing, with Bron not being in the mix, but kudos to him. … He stayed active defensively and stayed making plays for his teammates, thus the 11 assists.”

The Lakers' shorthanded supporting cast almost mitigated Davis' struggles. D'Angelo Russell (39 points, eight assists) took full advantage of a temporary return to the starting lineup, alongside Reaves. The golfing buddies combined to score the Lakers' first 19 points of the game. Reaves posted 19 points on 7-for-8 shooting until fouling out with 5:03 left in regulation. (Another positive: Rui Hachimura, on a minutes restriction in his return from a calf strain, assertively scored 17 points in 19 minutes.)

“They had some coverages that tried to take AD out the game, allowed us to play off the catch and attack closeouts all game,” explained Russell. “Just try to take this aggression, add it to the next game.”

“His skill is very unique,” Reaves said about DLo. “It's an honor to share the court with him.”

If there's any player who doesn't deserve blame for the Lakers' rocky regular season, it's Davis. He's played all but two games while shooting over 56% for the second year in a row — including 63.4% in January. Still, it has to sting to know that even a below-average offensive performance from AD likely results in a pleasantly surprising win for the Lakers.

“Obviously, Bron's out, everyone has to step up,” said Davis. “And those guys did, except myself. So, this one's on me.”

The Lakers' sixth loss in eight games dropped them to 11th in the Western Conference standings. Almost exactly halfway through the season, they're officially outside of the playoff picture — with the same record (19-21) as they had at this juncture last year. And the same margin for error: none.

“40 games, 42 left,” said Davis. “Gotta make a push.”