Utah Jazz: Slow start dooms team in Game 1

LOS ANGELES — One game into their first-round NBA playoff series with the Western Conference's top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, bleak got bleaker for the Jazz.

Behind a team-high 24 points from reigning NBA MVP Kobe Bryant, and despite Carlos Boozer's game-high 27, the Lakers beat No. 8 seed Utah 113-100 Sunday at Staples Center.

It was the 10th straight Jazz loss in L.A., including three second-round games when the Lakers eliminated them last postseason. And this time, like so often in the past, it didn't take much more than a half for those from Utah to realize what fate would await.

"We kind of looked like deer in the headlights to start off with," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "I was really kind of shocked that we would play that way."

The Lakers led 62-40 after an opening half in which they hit 65.7 percent (23-for-35) from the field.

They wound up at 55.6 percent but never trailed by fewer than nine in the second half.

"It is getting kind of repetitive," said point guard Deron Williams, who dished a game-high and personal playoff-high 17 assists but admittedly struggled with 4-for-14 shooting en route to scoring 16.

"That's something we can't have happen against a team like this," he added with reference to L.A.'s big early advantage.

"You're not gonna be able to come back from 20 down. They're just not gonna let you get back in the game."

Each time Utah did muster a run, something went awry.

"When it felt like we had the momentum," backup power forward Paul Millsap said, "we made a lot of costly turnovers."

A midrange jumper from Boozer trimmed the Laker lead to 72-63 with three minutes and 24 seconds to go in the third quarter, but 21-point scorer Pau Gasol answered inside and Boozer lost the ball on the Jazz's next trip down the floor.

That led to a fastbreak and a reverse dunk from role-playing starter Trevor Ariza, who shot 8-for-10 while adding another 20 points.

Jazz sub Andrei Kirilenko drained a trey to make 98-89 with 5:44 remaining, but Bryant was allowed to answer with back-to-back jumpers.

And Millsap hit two free throws to again make it a nine-point game with 1:46 left, but by then — evidenced by errant passes from both Boozer and Williams in the final minute — the Jazz seemed resigned to the inevitable.