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Jazz tie series with OT win; Kobe fights through injury

Sun 11th, May 2008

Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - Deron Williams poured in 29 points and doled out 14 assists as the Utah Jazz survived a late surge and downed the Los Angeles Lakers, 123-115, in overtime to knot their Western Conference semifinal series at two games apiece.

Kobe Bryant scored 33 points had 10 assists and eight rebounds, but was hampered by a back injury and struggled from the field, shooting 13-for-33 and 1-for-10 from beyond the arc.

Mehmet Okur scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Utah, and Andrei Kirilenko added 15 points. Carlos Boozer ended with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Kyle Korver scored 14 points off the bench for the Jazz.

Utah finished the game 37-of-45 at the foul line.

Lamar Odom had 26 points and 13 rebounds, and Pau Gasol added 23 points and 10 boards for the Lakers, who won their first six playoff games, but will head back to LA after consecutive losses in Salt Lake City, where the Jazz are 41-5 in the regular season and playoffs.

Derek Fisher scored 15 points off the bench, including 10 straight in the fourth quarter to lead the LA comeback.

Game 5 of this best-of-seven series is scheduled for Wednesday at the Staples Center.

Bryant said he should be fine to play in the next contest.

"I should be okay, I should be all right," Bryant said. "I'll definitely play and be ready to go."

It was a rare home playoff game on a Sunday for the Jazz, the first since 2000, and their owner, Larry Miller, honored his Mormon faith and stayed home. That didn't stop EnergySolutions Arena from selling out, though, and the Jazz continued to hold their staggering home court advantage.

The Jazz opened a 12-point lead on two Boozer free throws with 4:21 left in regulation, but Fisher led the Lakers charge as LA came back to force overtime. Fisher drained a trio of three-pointers and scored 10 straight Laker points, and his third trey pulled LA within 102-98 with 2:42 left.

A Bryant floater in the lane cut the deficit to 104-103, but Williams answered with a turnaround jumper to push the lead to 106-103 with 1:06 remaining.

Odom stepped up and drained a rare three-pointer, knotting the game at 106, but Boozer drew a foul in the lane, and his free throws put the Jazz up by two with 33.7 seconds to play.

Again Odom tried to be the hero from behind the arc, but this time he missed. The long rebound gave the Lakers one last chance, and Odom tied the game again, this time on a putback of a Bryant miss, locking the score at 108 with 4.6 ticks left.

Williams tried a fadeaway jumper at the other end, but Fisher blocked the shot to send the game to overtime.

"They continued to hit shots in that fourth quarter," Williams said of the Lakers. "We got a little tentative, (they) tied the game, but we felt going into the overtime we still had energy, to compete and to bring it."

The Lakers offense ran out of gas in the extra session, however, where the club shot 2-of-10 from the field. Okur made back-to-back jumpers to put Utah on top, and after a Bryant layup, a Kirilenko three-point play extended the Jazz lead to 115-110 with 35.5 seconds remaining.

"We have to have a little bit of things fall our way, and in the overtime Memo (Okur) made a couple big shots to get us a little bit of breathing room and from that point on we seemed to kind of exchange baskets," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said.

Bryant missed a layup at the other end, and two Korver free throws seemingly iced the win with 28.5 seconds left. Kirilenko fouled Bryant behind the arc, though, and the three free throws made it a 117-113 game with 24.5 left. Williams and Korver made their free throws down the stretch, however, to secure the win for Utah.

"I thought we didn't execute our offense the way I wanted to see it executed," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "When Kobe's going well, obviously that's a great ploy for us to have that resource, but at that particular time it looked to me like he didn't have the kind of energy to take over that type of game."

The Jazz ran out to an early 19-9 lead, and led 31-21 entering the second quarter.

Bryant said he was hurt in that opening quarter.

"Second play of the game, turnaround jump shot," Bryant said. "Spun and back just caught on me. It was out since."

The contest got heated early in the second quarter, as Lakers forward Ronny Turiaf fouled Jazz guard Ronnie Price hard as Price was driving towards the net. Price slammed to the hardwood, opening a gash over his right eye that required four stitches. The two argued for a bit after the foul, but were quickly separated.

Turiaf was assessed with a flagrant 2 foul on the play, earning him an automatic ejection.

"I thought the kid (Price) was out of control when he went in," Jackson said. "Ronny (Turiaf) did go up to block the shot and I thought he entirely played the ball. I haven't seen a call like that. I was very surprised he was put out of the ball game."

The Jazz offense, meanwhile, cooled off later in the quarter, and the Lakers took advantage, tying the game at 55-55 on a Bryant jumper at the buzzer.

The Jazz lead stood at 79-75 entering the final 12 minutes of play. Korver came off the bench late in the third quarter and provided an offensive spark for the Jazz. He opened the fourth quarter with a jumper, and added a three. A Paul Millsap free throw boosted Utah to a 90-80 lead with 9:08 to play in regulation.

Game Notes

Utah has captured four of its last five Game 4s in the postseason. The Jazz are 3-1 at home in this year's playoffs...Sasha Vujacic added 11 points off the bench for the Lakers...LA shot 14-for-25 (65 percent) from the foul line...Matt Harpring scored 12 for Utah.

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