Utah Jazz: D-Will disappointed in team's effort

The occasional slumped shoulders and look of frustration, irritation and exhausted emotion on Deron Williams' face in the second half spoke volumes about what took place at the EnergySolutions Arena on Saturday night.

Reading Williams' lips — not suggested for younger viewers — during one of the Lakers' successful wide-open 3-point shots in the fourth quarter filled in the blanks.

In a matter of 48 hours, the feeling of exhilaration Williams and 19,000 or so of his closest friends felt on Thursday night after his game-winning shot gave the Jazz a win and some hope in this first-round series turned into exasperation.

Being on the receiving end of 16 sucker-punches to the gut from your buddy — resulting in a first-round-series-dooming 108-94 loss to the Lakers — has a way of doing that to a man.

"Yes, it's tough," Williams admitted. "We thought we'd put a better effort forth tonight. I was kind of disappointed a little the way we came out. (We) disappointed our fans a little bit."

While he'll accept responsibility for much of that, Williams blamed the guy he became close friends with while members of the U.S. Olympic basketball team last summer.

No, not Carlos Boozer — more like Kobe Bryant, whose 16-for-24 shooting performance and 38 points put the Jazz in a 3-1 hole in this first-round series.

Williams again showed how he was a rising star in this league with a solid 23-point, 13-assist, five-rebound outing. But that was nearly matched by the Lakers' point guard tandem of Derek Fisher (12 points) and Shannon Brown (10 points).

And then there was his pal, who had plenty of yellow-clad support in the crowd and put a plethora of punctuation marks on why he's considered an all-time superstar.

"You could see it in his eyes the way he came out," Williams said of Bryant, who obviously wanted to make a statement after missing 19 of 24 shots on Thursday.

"He didn't say anything to anybody, didn't shake anybody's hands," Williams added, "so you just knew he was ready for this basketball game."

Though perhaps more cordial on the court in the beginning, Williams certainly came out strong, too. Not exactly Bryant-esque strong, but strong nonetheless. Williams swished an early three and added a couple of free throws to lead Utah to an early 10-7 lead.