Utah Jazz: Lakers hold off Jazz to take Game 1 of conference semifinals

SALT LAKE CITY — Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals was up for grabs late in the fourth quarter.

The Utah Jazz let the opportunity slip away.

After losing their double-digit lead, Kobe Bryant and his Los Angeles Lakers did just the opposite. Bryant scored 11 of his game-high 31 points as the Lakers turned a four-point deficit into a 104-99 victory at Staples Center to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Utah was within one at 96-95 after a pair of free throws by Deron Williams, who had a team-high 24 points. But the Lakers dominated down the stretch.

Lamar Odom grabbed on offensive rebound to score over Carlos Boozer, then Bryant drove for a bucket and hit a pair of freebies with 19 seconds to go to seal the win for Los Angeles.

Pau Gasol had a huge outing for the defending NBA champions with 25 points and 12 rebounds.

The Jazz came out inspired in the fourth quarter. The rag-tag crew of Ronnie Price, Kyle Korver, C.J. Miles, Kosta Koufos and Paul Millsap helped turn an eight-point deficit at the beginning of the period into an 83-82 lead.

The Jazz even increased their surprising, hard-earned edge to four at 93-89 with four minutes left after Wesley Matthews came up with a steal and a reverse layup.

Bryant then hit a pair of free throws and converted a three-point play to put the Lakers back on top.

Boozer finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Millsap and Miles each added 16 points (on 4-for-12 shooting).

The Lakers maintained their eight-point halftime lead in the the third quarter, and take an 81-73 advantage into the final period.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Matthews and Miles helped the Jazz trim the Lakers' double-digit lead down to three at 63-60.

It looked like it might get ugly early on for the Jazz.

But thanks to a late first-half spurt and continued stellar play by Williams, the Jazz only trail the Los Angeles Lakers by eight at 53-45 at halftime.

Williams scored 17 points in the opening half to lead all scorers, a total that included a soaring one-hand jam that ended up being a three-point play during the Jazz's 7-2 run going into the locker room.

Kobe Bryant hit his first six shots and had 12 points for the Lakers before leaving with his third foul late in the second quarter. Pau Gasol also has a dozen points for Los Angeles, which shot 60.5 percent and led by as many as 13 points.

Carlos Boozer scored eight points in the half for Utah, but none in the second quarter. He has 14 so far.

Wesley Matthews hit a floater with 2.3 seconds left in the half to cut the Lakers' lead to single digits.