Jazz's Okur off target in return to lineup

Mehmet Okur missed two games with back spasms but thought he was ready to come back and play Monday night in EnergySolutions Arena against the Los Angeles Lakers.

"Not about Lakers. I just felt better than last few days, and I just tried to go out there and give what I got," said Utah's 6-foot-11 usual sharpshooter.

With power forward Carlos Boozer also trying to ease back into things in his third game after missing eight with a fractured fibula head, the Jazz struggled in the post positions even if they did get 32 points in the paint to L.A.'s 22.

Boozer had 13 points and nine boards while trying to chase Laker Lamar Odom (19 points, 14 rebounds) all over the court, and Okur had his worst shooting night of the season, 3-for-19, to go with just six boards as the Jazz were downed 102-94.

"They packed it in on us," said backup power forward Paul Millsap, who scored four points and had seven rebounds in 21 minutes. "They're real physical. We've got some good players in there with Memo and Boozer, and they clogged up the lanes, and they wouldn't have nothing in the lane, so that means we've just got to hit our open shots."

"When Mehmet shoots like he did tonight," said Laker coach Phil Jackson, "it's going to be tough for them to win. We were lucky he didn't hit his shots. For him to go 3-for-19 is remarkable."

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan wasn't so sure it was Laker luck.

"Give them credit," he said. "They moved us around, they pushed us around, they put us out on the floor. They worked us over. They came right at us, and we looked like we were surprised that they were going to play hard.

"The boxed us around pretty good," said Sloan, thinking about all of the Jazz and not just the bigs.

Utah ran the floor a few times early, "And what did we do after that? We stopped out about the free-throw line, three-quarter court, and started walking because we got boxed around. They've got control.

"If I whack you once and you stay outside, I've done my job. I don't have to guard you any more. That's what they did to us, and we ended up dramatically taking turnaround jump shots and fallaway jump shots and long jump shots."

That was likely a reference to plays by Boozer and Okur, who did try several feinting shots.

Okur also missed many of the kind of shots for which he's well-enough noted to have made the All-Star Game earlier this month.

And he made no excuses. "If you look at my shots, I was open.

"Sometimes, I did try too much to get to the free-throw line, but I was in a rush and tried to do something, yes, that wasn't so me. I tried to find my routine, and I just couldn't find.