LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Lakers attempted 22 fewer field goals than Utah and were outrebounded 58-41 by the Jazz.

Usually, that's not a recipe to succeed in a playoff game. Somehow, the Lakers made it work Sunday.

Kobe Bryant, celebrating what's expected to be his first NBA MVP award, converted six of his franchise playoff-record 21 foul shots in the fourth quarter, and the Lakers held off the Jazz 109-98 to begin the second round of the postseason.

"There's not much we can do about it," Utah's Andrei Kirilenko said of Bryant's success at the free throw line. "We should stop fouling. I got six fouls, I think four on him."

Bryant finished with 38 points, six rebounds and seven assists, and the Lakers made it five straight victories to begin the postseason after winning eight of their last nine regular-season games to earn the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

Bryant made his first 18 foul shots before missing two of his last five to finish 21-of-23.

"You've got to be able to knock those free throws down. They're open looks," he said. "You go up there and miss two free throws and sometimes that can change the momentum; it's as good as a turnover. So you have to take the responsibility to go up there and knock them down."

The Lakers shot 38-of-46 from the foul line, while the Jazz went 22-of-30. The teams spent most of the final period going from one foul line to the other, with Los Angeles going 14-of-19 and Utah 10-of-12. Twenty-four of the 60 personal fouls were called in the last 12 minutes.

"We are known as a team that fouls a lot, so you have to adjust to that," Utah's Ronnie Brewer said. "Adjust your defense, not use your hands as much and make it tough."

There were some other unexpected numbers. For one, the rebound totals, with Utah getting 25 at the offensive end to eight for the Lakers, leading to a 26-12 advantage in second chance points. For another, Utah attempted 95 shots to match its regular-season high, but converted only 36 (37.9 percent). The Lakers shot 33-of-73 (45.2 percent).

"We had open shots. We couldn't make them," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said.

"We avoided a game in which we could have easily come up on the losing end," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.

Sloan said he had no problem with the Lakers' decisive advantage at the foul line, and was critical of his team's defensive effort.

"It was very, very poor at best," he said. "(Fouls) are what you do when you try and bail out. I'd say that's very poor defense. I think that's something we should work on, think about, try and do a little better job."

Game 2 will be played Wednesday night before the best-of-seven series shifts to Utah for Games 3 and 4.