Kirilenko, who finished with 16 points and eight blocks, got help from Boozer, who had 14 of his team-high 27 points at halftime; from reserve center Curtis Borchardt, who blocked another three shots in his first nine minutes; from McLeod, who dished five first-half assists; from Eisley, who did not look particularly out of place considering he signed just a few hours prior to opening tip; and from Raja Bell and Matt Harpring, who both came off the bench and combined to score 33 points, including 23 by Harpring.

The Lakers did rally a bit in the second half, making it 69-54 Jazz heading into the fourth on the strength of 17 third-quarter points by Bryant, who wound up with a game-high 38 points.

In the fourth, L.A. even got to as close as 13 points at 77-64 with just more than six minutes remaining.

Ultimately, though, Utah had no real trouble holding on - outscoring the Lakers 35-24 in the final quarter.

"We won the game because our defense was good," Sloan said. "It's a good start."

Not everything was playbook-perfect - the Jazz took way more outside shots than Sloan would have liked - but it really wasn't bad at all for a team whose coach had more than a few unanswered questions, and not particularly high expectations, before his 17th season in Utah got under way.

"We've got younger guys," said Sloan, tenured longer with the same team than any other coach in the NBA. "I don't know them as well. It takes a while to know who they are, and what they can do, and where they like the basketball, and where they like to shoot from.

"The tough part about it is we're expecting them to do some things that we think they should be able to do, but we have to also be understanding," he added. "We've got a lot of different faces, some guys that are not quite sure how they're going to play, where they're going to play, what they're doing."

Add those realities to the fact Sloan already has realized one of his worst fears - "You get somebody hurt, and now problems really set in," he said even before Arroyo was injured in the Jazz's final game of the preseason - and it is no wonder the Jazz coach was not willing to say if he thought Utah could improve on its 42-win effort of a season ago.

"There is no guarantee, (just) because we have new faces on this team, that this team is supposed to jump out and win us 50 games," Sloan said. "I mean, you've got to come and work. We are not good enough to win 30 games if we don't work hard. Or 20 games. That will be a proven fact."

So, too, is this: For one night, at the very least, the Jazz can say their season was well worth the wait.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com