Utah Jazz: Jazz comeback bid falls short
"Yeah, we were rolling at that point," said Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer. after Williams' second big three in three minutes as the Jazz hopefully clawed their way back to some respectability.
"We came back and made a little bit of a run, and then Kobe made some tough shots with hands right in his face, so give him credit."
The Lakers made off with an important 106-95 victory to end Utah's 19-home-game win streak and keep this season's edition of the Jazz from breaking a team record that has now been reached three times. The Lakers now hold a 3-1 edge over the Jazz in games for the season series.
"I thought we had a shot," said Kyle Korver after watching Williams' four-point play. "he hit a few threes there at the end and gave us some life, but they were able to hit shots at the other end."
"I was thinking we would come all the way back for the whole fourth quarter," said forward Andrei Kirilenko. "We had a little streak, get going, but I think they did smart enough.
"They don't just start shooting to fire back. They was playing pretty good," Kirilenko said.
"They hit a lot of shots with hands in their faces. Give them credit," Korver said. "We just never got into any kind of a flow or rhythm."
Boozer said the Jazz started in the "wrong offense" but worked it around to get into their automatic sets, and that helped.
With the Jazz falling behind by 20 in the first quarter, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan used point guard Williams all but two minutes of the game in the hopes of turning things around.
Williams did a pretty good job directing a comeback that ultimately fell short.
He totaled a team-high 26 points, 18 of them coming in the second half, and had a dozen assists plus seven rebounds and a blocked shot.
With the Jazz bench contributing little to the game while the Lakers got 25 points and nine rebounds off their bench that is shortened by injuries, Williams and the other starters pretty much had to carry the load.
Utah got 23 and 15 rebounds from Boozer, 15 points from Kirilenko, a dozen from Ronnie Brewer and 10 points from Mehmet Okur, who played 29 minutes after being sick all week.
Williams had 18 points in the second half to finish with 26 for the night, and he had a dozen assists plus seven rebounds.
Williams got the Jazz as close as they would get with two 3-pointers in a three-minute period, the second one becoming a four-point play when Kobe Bryant was called for fouling him and Wiliiams made the free throw to shave the lead to eight, 96-88.
Briant, though, came right back with a running slam and then rebounded and assisted Luke Walton for a fast-break layin that essentially ended the Jazz's run.
And their home -winning streak at 19 games.
Utah had beaten the Lakers by 24 the first time they played in EnergySolutions Arena this season, on Nov. 30, 120-96.
E-mail: lham@desnews.com
Recent comments
the lakers were motivated for this game, while the Jazz looked slow...
james | March 21, 2008 at 11:46 a.m.
They deserved to lose and the lakers deserved to win.
JazzFan4ever | March 21, 2008 at 10:34 a.m.
1st of all, i am sorry for the defeat. At the end of 1st quarter,...
Sinan | March 21, 2008 at 4:27 a.m.
