Foye, Jazz drop Lakers to 1-4 start

By LYNN DeBRUIN

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Before their game Wednesday, Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown remarked how easily Kobe Bryant had been scoring and in so many different ways.

Against Utah, with four or five players taking turns guarding Bryant, nothing came easy as the Jazz pulled off a 95-86 victory to drop the Lakers to 1-4.

"It's tough for anyone to stop him one-on-one," Jazz guard Randy Foye said. "I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates. Me, Gordon (Hayward), Marvin (Williams), Mo (Williams), Alec (Burks). All of us. It worked well, but I'm lucky the game finished when it did because any longer and he was starting to get it going."

Bryant led all scorers with 29 points, 16 in the fourth quarter. But he shot just 7 of 17 overall after entering the game shooting nearly 60 percent. He also was 0 of 4 from 3-point range, and was only 3 of 10 after three quarters.

While the Jazz were limiting the Lakers to 34 percent shooting, Al Jefferson and free-agent acquisition Foye provided a 1-2 punch.

Jefferson scored 18 points and Foye added 17 off the bench on five 3-pointers, including three straight in the fourth quarter.

"Oh man, I was feeling it," said Foye, who finished 5 of 9 from beyond the arc and made all of Utah's 3s. "I was just trying to go out there and be aggressive. I've got to give a lot of credit to my teammates.

My teammates found me at the right spots and I just knocked down shots."

Foye said the Lakers shouldn't have been surprised that he was a dangerous 3-point shooter.

"They know me," he said. "Last year I played for the Clippers and had big games against them. They knew. But it was either Big Al with the layup or I get a 3."

The Jazz led by as many as 16 points early, but the Lakers were within five with 8:27 left before Foye hit three straight 3-pointers to give Utah a 79-68 lead with 6:40 remaining.

Jefferson scored on back-to-back baskets for Utah as the Jazz boosted their lead to 13.

Bryant's 16-point fourth helped Los Angeles get within five, but his dunk with 12.5 seconds left was too little, too late.

"We're all frustrated," Brown said. "I'm very frustrated too for the simple fact that I just don't think we played the game like we talked about going in. We wanted to be the ones to hit first ... but we didn't." Utah, which beat Dallas in the opener only to lose three straight on the road, started fast and finished strong.

Utah held a 44-36 advantage in points in the paint and a 15-7 edge on the fast break.

The Jazz also forced 19 Lakers turnovers, including six by Bryant and five by Dwight Howard.

"A lot of it just comes from reading each other, getting in sync with each other," said Bryant, who was playing his 79th career game against the Jazz but only fifth with new teammate Howard.

Howard (19 points, nine rebounds) said the Lakers' intensity was low.

Everyone acknowledged Utah is a different team at home.

The Jazz led by seven early as Mo Williams and Hayward started fast. Hayward left Bryant on the floor after stealing the ball from him at one end and dunking at the other for a 9-2 Utah lead.

The Lakers pulled within 19-17 on Pau Gasol's jam off a pass from Bryant. But Utah closed on a 6-0 run to take a 25-17 lead, with a pair of baskets from Derrick Favors and a 17-foot jumper from big man Enes Kanter.

Utah's reserves kept things rolling in the second quarter, with Favors and Kanter dominating inside at both ends. Kanter shut down Howard on back-to-back possessions, and had a dunk and three-point play. Foye's 3-pointer pushed Utah's lead to 35-21 with 9:11 left in the half and his free throws put the Jazz up 43-27.

Mo Williams kept the pressure on offensively with 14 points in the first half on 7-of-10 shooting, taking advantage of Steve Nash's continued absence. He finished with 16 points on 8 of 13 shooting.

Hayward was just 2 of 11 overall, but had a pair of steals and three blocks, none bigger than his swat of Metta World Peace shortly before the break.

Utah finished with seven blocked shots, including two by Burks, who showed he wasn't afraid to play Bryant tight.

Bryant took only one shot in the first quarter and was 1 of 4 at halftime. At one point, Los Angeles was shooting just 25 percent.

In the third, Bryant had a chance to cut Utah's lead to two but was blocked by Favors, leaving Bryant screaming for the foul. He didn't get it, but Marvin Williams converted a three-point play at the other end six seconds later to push Utah's lead back to 63-56.

Kanter's slam gave Utah a 65-57 lead going into the fourth.

"It's definitely sweet," said Mo Williams, who added seven assists. "But it was all about us fighting. We needed to get this one."

Notes: The Jazz went 3 1/2 minutes without scoring in the third as they shot just 26 percent in the quarter. Utah held a 44-36 advantage in points in the paint and a 15-7 edge on the fast break. ... The Lakers finished with a huge advantage at the free throw line, but made just 32 of 46. ... Jordan Hill grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds for the Lakers.

Copyright 2012 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

POSTGAME QUOTES



Mike Brown:

On the Laker's offense tonight:
“I thought we didn’t play well offensively. I can count on both hands and both feet how many wide-open shots we had, especially from the three-point line, that you hope or think is going to go in. Every wide-open three that we missed or every time we went up to try to dunk the ball or lay it in and it got stripped or it got knocked out of our hands, it made us tighten up a little bit more. Again, we didn’t do a good job of moving on to the next play.”

On the game:
“We’re all frustrated. I’m very frustrated too for the simple fact that I just didn’t think we played the game like we talked about going into the game. We wanted to be the ones to hit first. We wanted to be the ones to play through their physicality and I thought we didn’t. I thought every catch or every time we tried to catch they made us catch further and further off the post or off the pick and we didn’t do that to them. Little things like that were frustrating.”

On Randy Foye:
“You have to tip your hat to Foye for making those shots. He stepped up and hit some big shots down the stretch on the weak side of the floor.”

On playing in Utah:
“This is always a tough place to play. They play very well here and to go along with the fact that we didn’t play very well. They play good basketball here in Utah.”

On missing 14 free throws as a team:
“Just take a look at it. Free throws are just nothing but repetition and just trusting the practice that you put in.”

On turnovers:
“A lot of it just comes from reading each other, just getting in sync with each other. Those passes are just off timing and getting deflected. The turnovers that we are getting are turnovers from guys trying to make the right play, trying to make plays for other people. Put teammates in positions to be successful. We are just turning it over.”

On the loss:
“Move onto the next game. Try and come out and play hard and play together. Just move onto the next game and try not to make the mistakes we had.”

On turnovers coming down:
“It happens. It happens. We just have to keep on playing basketball and keep working. Keep working. Individually, we have to figure out how we can continue to help.”

On the biggest problem in tonight’s loss:
“I think our intensity was low, we didn’t play as hard as we should have played and they played hard. That’s how they won the game.”

On where the team is at emotionally right now:
“We are okay. There is no need for us to panic or put extra pressure on ourselves, it is early in the season. We know everybody expects big things out of us but greatness takes time. Instead of us panicking we just need to play through it and find ways to win our games. We need to find our niche and right now we are searching for it, once we get it we will be good.”

On snapping the losing streak:
“Hard fought ball game, the guys really grinded it out. We needed a win bad on our home floor and our fans were super helping us stay in there and just plugging at it plugging at it, and fortunately we got the win at the end.”

On the play of Randy Foye:
“I tell you what, for a while there he couldn’t hit a three on the road and that’s who he is, he’s a tough veteran guy and he understands the time and point of the game and he hit really, really timely three point shots for us.”

On his three-point shooting:
“Oh man, I was feeling it. I’ve got to give a lot of credit to my teammates, my teammates found me at the right spots and I just knocked down the shots.”

On if he makes one three and feels like he has to prove it each time:
“No, my whole thing is to just try to be aggressive. Just try to keep coming at them, just coming at them just like theydous. WhenImakeone,IfeelasifIcanmakefiveinarow.”

On playing the Lakers here as opposed to as a cross-town rival with the Clippers last season:
“EnergySolutions is a lot louder than STAPLES Center.”

On his ability to find Randy Foye open and his chemistry with Foye:
“I think it had a lot to do with it. We’ve played a lot of minutes together, especially last year. We were both on the floor a lot together. It helped.”

On breaking the three-game losing streak:
“It’s definitely sweet. It was all about us tonight. We needed to get this win and get back on the road.”

On the difference tonight:
“Offense was a lot better. I think we closed the game out a whole lot better tonight. We were still in a dogfight up five or six points with a few minutes to go. I thought we did a good job of executing down the stretch.”

On breaking the losing streak:
“I think it put us back in the right direction. Now we just need to try and put a couple of wins together.”

On the difference tonight compared to previous games:
“I think we played ‘D.’ We rebounded well and we got out and ran it. We’ve got to be an up-tempo team. I think that’s what we did.”

On if the offense has reached its potential:
“It looked good tonight. I think we did better. The offense the way we look at it is we need to be up-tempo and run. If that doesn’t work we can just run our regular offense.”

LAKERS-JAZZ PREVIEW

By JEFF MEZYDLO

If the Los Angeles Lakers are going to string together some victories, they'll likely need to do it without one of their top players.

With star guard Steve Nash still injured, the visiting Lakers look to build on their first victory and hand the Utah Jazz a fourth consecutive defeat Wednesday night.

Winless in the preseason and off to its worst start in 34 years, Los Angeles (1-3) quieted critics for the moment with a 108-79 win over Detroit on Sunday. Dwight Howard had 28 points while Kobe Bryant added 15 with eight assists and seven rebounds to pace the star-studded Lakers.

"We needed this bad, just to change the mood and give us some of that feel-good feeling," said guard Steve Blake, who had six points, six assists and tied his career high with five steals while starting in Nash's place. "Losing games was tough. I guess we did a good job of staying positive, but it feels good, that's for sure."

While fans and media continue to question the effectiveness of coach Mike Brown's new Princeton-style offense, perhaps the greatest concern surrounding the Lakers might be the health of the 38-year-old Nash. The two-time MVP, who agreed to a three-year, $27 million contract with the Lakers before his trade from Phoenix over the summer, missed the last two games with a non-displaced fracture in his left leg suffered in a loss at Portland last Wednesday.

Nash reportedly could be out from one to four weeks.

Regardless of the duration of Nash's absence, the Lakers hope their first win will enable them to start building momentum.

"I don't think anyone over there was panicked that they were 0-3 or that they hadn't won a preseason game," Detroit coach Lawrence Frank said. "They're a very good team."

Despite a sore foot, Bryant is averaging 26.8 points while Howard has scored 23.3 per contest. Bryant has averaged 30.8 points in his last six games at Utah, including playoffs.

The Lakers split four meetings with Utah (1-3) last season but the Jazz won the last two, including 96-87 at home Feb. 4. Utah has won five of the past seven home matchups.

The Jazz opened with a 113-94 win over Dallas in Salt Lake City, but return home after getting swept on their road trip by a combined 21 points. Utah's longest losing streak last season was four games from Feb. 19-28.

"We were able to be in all three games and had opportunities to win them, and just couldn't finish them off," coach Tyrone Corbin said after a 103-94 defeat to Memphis on Monday. "We just have to grow and learn from it and continue to get better."

Gordon Hayward had 19 points and Mo Williams added 17 for the Jazz, who led by as many as 12 in the first half and three at the break.

Williams is averaging 20.8 points in his second stint with the team that drafted him in 2003. Paul Millsap has averaged 21.8 points and 9.2 rebounds in his last five games versus Los Angeles.

SEASON & SERIES NOTES; CONNECTIONS
The Lakers split last season’s series with with Utah 2-2 after also splitting the 2010-11 series 2-2. Prior to the past two seasons, the Lakers owned a a four-year season series win streak against the Jazz: 2006-07 (2-1), 2007-08 (3-1), 2008-09 (2-1), 2009-10 (3-1). The Jazz and Lakers have met 158 times in the regular season (100-58) and 140 times since the Jazz moved to Utah (87-53). The Lakers are 6-4 in their last 10 regular season games against the Jazz. The Lakers are 20-5 all-time against the Jazz at STAPLES Center during the regular season. From January 1, 2006 through April 5, 2011, the Lakers owned a 17-game home win streak against the Jazz (including playoff games). In Utah, the Lakers have gone 5-5 in their last 10 regular season games at EnergySolutionsArena. In recent series history, on 12/9/09 at STAPLES Center, the Lakers held the Jazz to the 3rd fewest fourth quarter points (6) in the NBA’s shot clock era. In 2006, the Lakers scored a series record 132 points in a 132-102 victory 11/30/06 at STAPLES Center, improving upon the old mark of 131 points achieved at Utah 12/4/86. In that game, Kobe Bryant established a new series-high with 52 points against the Jazz, surpassing his own record of 43 points (3/22/05) while also bettering Adrian Dantley’s Jazz mark of 50 established in November of 1979. Bryant’s 30-point 3rd quarter tied his own franchise record and is tied for the 4th-highest scoring quarter in NBA history. Jazz point guard Jamaal Tinsley was selected by the Los Angeles D-Fenders (Lakers NBA Development League affiliate) with the first overall pick in the 2011-12 NBA Development League Draft. In eight games with the D-Fenders prior to getting called up by the Jazz last season, Tinsley averaged 9.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 2.83 steals in 34.1 minutes. In the postseason, the Lakers and Jazz have met six times (1988, 1997, 1998, 2008, 2009, 2010) with the Lakers advancing on four occasions: 1988 Conf. Semifinals (4-3), 2008 Conf. Semifinals (4-2), 2009 First Round (4-1) and 2010 Conf. Semifinals (4-0).

LAST REGULAR SEASON MEETING
Tied at 78 with 9:31 remaining in the game, a Jazz 11-1 run over the next two and a half minutes proved to difficult to overcome as the Lakers trimmed the deficit to three and had a final chance to tie the game but saw Kobe Bryant’s three-point attempt come up short in what ultimately became a 103-99 loss to Utah at STAPLES Center. Andrew Bynum led all scorers with 33 points (12-14 FG, 9-12 FT) and 11 rebounds, marking his third 30+ point performance over his last eight games. Pau Gasol posted 18 points (8-12 FG) and 10 rebounds, Bryant finished with 15 points on 3-of-20 shooting, Matt Barnes added 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists and Ramon Sessions rounded out the Lakers in double-figures with 10 points and six assists. Playing without Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap led Utah with 24 points and nine rebounds. Derrick Favors, Josh Howard and Devin Harris each added 12 points apiece while Enes Kanter and Alec Burks both scored a career-high 17 points off the bench on a combined 13-of-17 from the field. The loss ends a Lakers five-game win streak and snaps their 10-game home win streak.