From Deseret News archives:
Jazz run out of gas in L.A.
Too little Utah defense, and too bad the Jazz did not do a more efficient job taking care of business on Saturday night — because it sure did seem to catch up with them Sunday night, when Bryant scored a game-high 33 points and coach Jerry Sloan's club allowed a slim fourth-quarter lead to slip away in a 119-109 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center.
"We looked tired out there," point guard Deron Williams said after the 2-2 Jazz finished their second game in two nights and their third since last Thursday. "Personally, that's what I think.
"I feel like we looked tired out there, and you can't be," he added after finishing with a team-high 26 points in 40 minutes — less than 24 hours after playing 36 minutes in a 133-110 win over Golden State, in part because the Jazz allowed a 24-point lead to be trimmed to as few as six before finally putting away the Warriors. "You've got to play back-to-backs. That's part of the NBA season. You've got to play three games in four nights. I think this was a good test for us — and we really didn't prove ourselves in it."
The failure in part was due to Bryant, who scored 10 of his 33 during a fourth quarter that the Lakers — who shot 55.8 percent from the field — won 38-27.
"Kobe had a great game," said Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer, whose 23 points and 12 rebounds marked his fourth double-double in as many games this season. "He was passing the ball, he was hitting his shots, he was being unselfish — and other guys stepped up and had good games."
It was in part due to the play of Laker subs Andrew Bynum and Jordan Farmar, who combined for 27 points.
Big man Bynum scored 15 on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, and pulled down nine rebounds.
Point guard Farmer finished with 12 points and fed Bynum for the basket that put the Lakers ahead to stay, a driving dunk that made it 83-82 just 29 seconds into the fourth quarter and erased the one-point advantage Utah had taken into the final period.
"They did a great job off the bench," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, whose own reserves were outscored 41-18. "Farmar put a lot of pressure on us, pushed the ball up the floor, got into a rhythm — and we never could do anything about it."
But the Jazz's undoing was due mostly to their own miscues, on both ends of the floor.
On the offensive end, Utah converted 48.8 percent from the field — but hit just 10-of-22 during a fourth quarter in which L.A. led by as many as 14 and by double digits for the game's final 3:42.
