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Lakers Gameday | 10/07/08 | Lakers vs. Jazz - Preseason Game 1

Location: Honda Center, Anaheim, CA | Time: 7:00pm | TV: KCAL/9 | Radio: KLAC AM 570, ESPN 1330

Oct 8 2008 6:07PM

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Utah Jazz	19	21	36	23	99
Los Angeles Lakers	26	16	27	31	90

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Jazz Open Preseason with Win over Lakers

ANAHEIM, Calif., Oct. 7 (AP) - Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap each scored 13 points, Deron Williams had 11 points and eight assists, and the Utah Jazz beat the Los Angeles Lakers 99-90 on Tuesday night in the preseason opener for both teams.

Kobe Bryant played 24 minutes for the Lakers, finishing with eight points, five rebounds and five assists after sitting out the entire second and fourth quarters. Bryant, who won the league's MVP last season for the first time in his career, was on the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team at the Beijing Olympics along with Williams and Utah teammate Carlos Boozer.

The Lakers got as close as 89-84 on Andrew Bynum's short hook shot with 5:34 to play, but Kevin Lyde capped an 8-2 run with a short hook shot to give Utah its biggest lead, 97-86, with 2:24 left. Bynum and Jordan Farmar each had 15 points for Los Angeles and Bynum grabbed eight rebounds.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson missed the game because of soreness and swelling in his lower legs. Assistant coach Kurt Rambis ran the team in place of the 63-year-old Hall of Famer, who has been experiencing discomfort for the past few days and was examined on Monday by a team doctor. Jackson remained home and watched the game on TV with his legs elevated.

"We don't anticipate that it's anything serious at all,'' team spokesman John Black said.

Jackson has undergone two hip replacement operations since October 2006 - the second one in June 2007. He used a cane for four months, including the preseason last year. His nine NBA titles as a head coach are tied with fellow Hall of Famer Red Auerbach. Last June, Jackson got the Lakers within two victories of the franchise's 15th championship.

Sasha Vujacic, who signed a three-year, $15 million contract as a restricted free agent in July after deciding to remain with the Lakers and not play in Europe, was sidelined because of a sprained left ankle. Luke Walton, who underwent surgery on July 18 to remove bone spurs and scar tissue and clean up some cartilage debris from his right ankle, also didn't dress.

The Jazz were missing Boozer because of a sore left hamstring. Matt Harpring also is sidelined due to complications from surgery in June to remove a bone spur from his right ankle. Last year, Harpring missed training camp and the entire preseason schedule following knee surgery.

Utah trailed by as many as 10 points early in the second quarter before pulling ahead 76-69 by the end of the third. Point guard Brevin Knight, beginning his 13th NBA season with his ninth different team after spending last season with the Clippers, sat out the first three quarters before hitting an 18-footer 22 seconds into the fourth.

JAZZ-LAKERS PREVIEW
by Mike Trudell, Lakers.com

The Utah Jazz brought some serious mettle to the 2008 Western Conference Semis.

After L.A. opened the series with two double-digit home wins, the Jazz responded by taking games three and four in Salt Lake City before dropping the fifth game back in Los Angeles. Ultimately, Kobe Bryant (34 points, six dimes) and Co. closed Utah’s playoff door with a 108-105 victory in Game Six in Utah, as the league MVP pushed L.A. past fellow Olympians Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko (don’t forget the Russians!).

On Tuesday night at the Honda Center – you know, the Pond – in Anaheim, the Lakers are sure to get an equally gritty, equally tough game.

Or … Not. It’s preseason game No. 1, after all.

The Lakers might just as easily be playing the Harlem Globetrotters, or better yet, the Washington Nationals. Wins and losses in the preseason – particularly in the early stages – mean approximately as much as staged arguments between Heidi and Spencer on “The Hills.” Perhaps the best statistical evidence suggesting that preseason wins and losses is the combined preseason record of the last three championship seasons in L.A. (2000-02): 10-14.

Last season, L.A. was 3-4, and no one cared. Instead, it’s the details that matter. Such as:

Do Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum look like Kobe or Phil Jackson says they do? What will the skipper decide to do with Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza? Is Bynum truly 100 percent healthy, and if so, how can opposing players get near the rim and/or avoid his elephant-sized calves? Is Kobe well rested, locked and loaded? Will key bench players last season continue to emerge and take PT from starters? Will Josh Powell or Chris Mihm be a P.J. Brown-like force up front off the bench?

Those are the issues we can begin dissecting Tuesday night, as opposed to how Derek Fisher checks D-Will or how many times Mehmet Okur hucks up threes while trying to draw the Lakers’ length away from the paint.

So drive to the O.C., flip your TV on KCAL or tune into AM 570/ESPN 1330 to catch the action; subsequently, we’ll have all the reaction you need on Lakers.com throughout the week.

And maybe – if you’re lucky – more obscure references to “The Hills.”

(Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images)

LAKERS BEST
Points A. Bynum 15	Rebounds A. Bynum 8	Assists C. Karl 5	Plus/Minus L. Odom +3

PROBABLE STARTERS
Los Angeles Lakers
Guard D. Fisher	Guard K. Bryant	Forward L. Odom	Forward P. Gasol	Center A. Bynum

Utah Jazz
Guard D. Williams	Guard R. Brewer	Forward A. Kirilenko	Forward C. Boozer	Center M. Okur

Lakers Gameday | 10/07/08 | Lakers vs. Jazz - Preseason Game 1

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