Utah Jazz: Team's versatility leads to preseason win over Lakers

First-rounder Koufos, meanwhile, entered at backup power forward — and spent his first stint guarding and being defended by a small forward, the Lakers' Trevor Ariza.

Koufos coolly nailed his first NBA exhibition shot, a 21-footer from the right corner with just more than 30 seconds left in the first quarter. But Koufos strained the hamstring during his only two minutes, and the one-and-done Ohio State product didn't return after the opening period.

With both Koufos and Boozer sidelined, Kirilenko started the second half — at power forward, alongside Miles. Brewer also played some power forward, something Sloan said probably wouldn't happen in the regular season.

The Jazz used that third quarter to overcome the Lakers' 42-40 halftime lead and take a 76-69 advantage into the fourth.

Highlight of the go-ahead period for the Jazz came when Williams delivered a fastbreak alleyoop pass to Millsap, then dove to the floor to intercept a bad in-bounds pass to ex-Jazz guard Derek Fisher and score a bucket of his own, making it 66-60 Utah.

Millsap and Brewer led the Jazz with 13 points apiece; Williams had 11.

NOTES: Brevin Knight and Ronnie Price — battling for Utah's backup point job — spent some time in the backcourt together, with Price playing shooting guard. "It's small," Sloan said of the look. ... Lakers head coach Phil Jackson was absent Tuesday due to pain and swelling in one of his legs. Assistant Kurt Rambis coached instead. ... Fisher started at the point, Kobe Bryant opened at shooting guard and power forward Lamar Odom was in the Laker frontcourt as usual, but Odom did see a bit of backcourt action — extending a training-camp lineup look experimented with during L.A.'s opening week of training camp.

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