Jazz send Lakers to another road loss, 96-87

By Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Al Jefferson scored 18 points, Paul Millsap had 16, and Earl Watson keyed a game-clinching 14-0 fourth quarter run to help the Utah Jazz beat the Los Angeles Lakers 96-87 Saturday night.

Watson scored eight points and had six assists in the fourth quarter as the Jazz beat the Lakers for the first time in three tries this season.

After he stole the ball from Pau Gasol at the top of the key and fed Derrick Favors for a dunk, Lakers coach Mike Brown went ballistic and charged after official Zach Zarba.

Brown received two quick technicals and was ejected with 8:34 to play.

Watson threw an alley-oop to C.J. Miles that brought the crowd to its feet and then capped the 14-0 run with a 3-pointer with 6:18 to play that gave Utah its biggest lead of the game, 83-68.

Kobe Bryant scored 26 points and Gasol had 24 points and 16 rebounds but the Lakers dropped to 3-8 on the road.

Just about every play went through Bryant after Brown's ejection. Bryant made two 3-pointers and added three free throws after getting fouled on another attempt in a span of 1:13.

Sandwiched around a driving shot by Watson, Andrew Bynum and Gasol scored inside to cut the Jazz lead to 87-81.

But Watson, who was playing with a sprained ankle, assisted on baskets by Jefferson and Millsap and then made a 3-pointer for a 94-83 lead with 1:06 remaining.

Los Angeles lost seven of its first eight games on the road. The Lakers' 90-87 overtime win at Utah was their only one until claiming road wins at Milwaukee and Friday night in Denver.

Many of the Lakers' road woes returned against the Jazz. Plays frequently ended with two Lakers yelling and pointing about where the other should have been.

In addition to the contributions from Bryant and Gasol, Bynum posted 21 points and 12 rebounds but after that was about it. The rest of the Lakers combined for just 16 points. Los Angeles made 5 of 17 field goal attempts in the final quarter.

Neither team led by more than six points until Watson led the big Utah run. The Jazz took advantage of their fifteenth home game, which is tied with Philadelphia for most in the league.

The Jazz also got a boost from Devin Harris, Raja Bell and Watson who were all game-time decisions after the trio missed Utah's 119-101 loss to Golden State on Thursday.

NOTES: Bryant got a technical foul for arguing a no-call on a dunk in the first quarter. He curtailed several discussions with the officials later in order to avoid an ejection. . After assistant John Kuester took over for Brown, he also got a technical foul a couple minutes later in the fourth quarter. . Millsap and Jefferson each had 13 rebounds as the Jazz beat the Lakers on the boards, 50-42.

POSTGAME QUOTES



Mike Brown:

On being thrown out of the game:

“I was trying to give our guys some juice. I got techs, I shouldn’t have gotten two techs. I put our guys in a deeper hole than we were already in, and that probably cost the game. I apologized to our guys, I take most the responsibility for that. I shouldn’t have done what I did, let me get that clear, because it put us in a deeper hole than what were in.”

“I thought that Utah came out and they were physical with us from the beginning. It started with them being very physical with our second unit and our second unit weren’t able to do much. And then it continued in the second half.”

“Utah was very physical defensively tonight with us. They kicked our behind on the glass, they were up on us in the halfcourt and you have got to give them credit, because the way they were playing is the correct way to play the game of basketball. They were on track of playing the right way, which could help them win the game. I made it probably a little worse by getting kicked out.”

“They played extremely well. Goudelock has really found a good rhythm out there for us --- he’s found his niche. Murphy came in and played extremely well, Kapono played extremely well and we did a good job all around.”

“It’s been our Achilles’ heel all season... offensive rebounds. They did a great job controlling the glass, getting second and third chances. We have to do a much better job controlling that.”

“We just have to be patient... just be calm. We’ve been in this situation before. We just have to stick with it. We have to focus on rebounding the basketball. We’re not doing a very good job of controlling the defensive glass. Teams are getting so many second chance opportunities.”

“There was definitely contact. There was definitely a possibility for the ref to make the call. He didn’t make it. I shouldn’t have been dribbling in that place to give the defense an opportunity, but he went for it. I think there was definitely contact, but there’s nothing I can do about it. We’re on the road. Most times you’re not going to get a lot of the calls. It was just frustrating.”

“We fought as hard as we could. They made plays. They made big shots. Earl (Watson) made two threes. Unfortunately, that’s not where we lost the game. It’s just the way we let them hang in the game just by offensive rebounding. When they had an opportunity and things happened the way they did, they took off.”

“This crowd here and the way our home fans are, the way these guys appreciate how they support what we’re trying to do here and have always supported this organization...the way they have supported this team and this group of guys. I think they fed off the fans. They got up and the guys really got energized after hearing the energy that the fans brought to them.”

“That group of guys on the floor, the bench was involved in it and they made a couple good stops. Earl came across and got the big steal. We ran the floor. Enes (Kanter) and Derrick (Favors) did a great job on the bigs inside to start and Al and Paul finished it off. It was just one play after another and it just led to another exciting play for us. We have talked about it before, this is going to have to be a group of guys that continue to work and respect each other and play together and support each other on both ends of the floor. And this is what will happen for us.”

“It’s a big deal for us. It’s a momentum swing for us. Hopefully we can use this to get on the road and get some wins on the road. We’re going to need it.”

“You know, it doesn’t matter if our offense is going or not, we still need to get stops. We need to stop them from scoring even if we’re not scoring points. We did that tonight. Our second unit did a great job for us and we got the win.”

“I got lucky that I have some good people to work with me. I came back to Utah and had the training staff with me all morning. I was able to run...I was lucky.”

“You really don’t notice because you are lost in the game. The emotion takes over and before you know it the lead starts to build. This was a big win for us. Our team played great. The young guys played well, and the starters came back in and closed it up.”

Lakers-Jazz Preview

By ALAN FERGUSON

After struggling on the road for much of the early season, the Los Angeles Lakers have started to find their groove away from home at an opportune time.

The Lakers will try to earn another win on their season-high, six-game trip when they visit the struggling Utah Jazz on Saturday night.

Los Angeles (14-9) has won three straight games overall and two in a row on the road after dropping seven of its first eight away from home. The Lakers topped 100 points for the first time on the road this season by beating Minnesota 106-101 on Sunday. After returning home to rout Charlotte 106-73, they began this trip Friday in Denver with a 93-89 victory - their second-fewest points allowed on the road this season.

Andrew Bynum scored a team-high 22 points and had 10 rebounds Friday while Kobe Bryant finished with 20 points despite missing 16 of 23 shots.

“We made it really hard on ourselves, but it’s good to get a win,” coach Mike Brown said. “Our defense got us a win in a tough environment. What an ugly game, we found a way to win.”

The Lakers have found a way to beat the Jazz (12-9) twice this season, winning 90-87 in overtime at Utah on Jan. 11 behind 40 points from Bryant, and blowing them out 96-71 at home Dec. 27, when the Jazz shot 32.2 percent - their worst performance in nearly six years.

Utah (12-9) has averaged 102.0 points in the 11 games since its last matchup with Los Angeles, but has also given up 105.8 per game over its last six contests, losing four of them.

A 119-101 defeat at Golden State on Thursday marked the most points the Jazz have allowed this season and spoiled Gordon Hayward’s season high-tying 21 points. They managed to put up 101 points as a team despite playing without their two point guards Devin Harris (hamstring) and Earl Watson (ankle).

Watson and fellow guard Raja Bell (strained right adductor) remain day to day, while Harris will be a gametime decision for Saturday as Utah tries to avoid a season-high third consecutive overall loss.

“We’ve got to stay together and fight with the ones we have healthy,” coach Tyrone Corbin said. “We didn’t really get into our offensive sets, and then on defense they beat us on the boards, beat us to the loose balls and just out-hustled us.”

The Jazz have split their last six home games after winning seven of their first eight in Salt Lake City with the lone loss coming to the Lakers. Another visit from Los Angeles might not help them get back on track.

The Lakers, who have won 14 of the last 19 overall meetings in this series, are seeking to win three straight in Utah for the first time since March 13-Dec. 4, 1985.

The Lakers will travel east for the remaining four games on their trip, beginning with a Monday night visit to Atlantic Division-leading Philadelphia.

SEASON & SERIES NOTES; CONNECTIONS
The Lakers lead the season series with Utah 2-0 after splitting last season’s series 2-2. Last season’s split snapped 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 156 times in the regular season (100-56) and 138 times since the Jazz moved to Utah (87-51). The Lakers are 7-3 in their last 10 regular season games against the Jazz. The Lakers are 20-4 all-time against the Jazz at STAPLES Center during the regular season but lost their second home contest with Utah last season (4/5/11), a loss that was the Lakers first to the Jazz at STAPLES Center since January 1, 2006, snapping a nine game home win streak (17 in a row including the playoffs). In Utah, the Lakers have won their last two straight and have gone 5-5 in their last 10 regular season games at EnergySolutions Arena. In their first meeting of last season in Utah, the Lakers blew a 19-point lead in a 96-102 loss 11/26/10 but overcame a 17-point deficit to defeat the Jazz 96-85 4/1/11 in their second contest at EnergySolutions Arena. 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. Additionally, Lakers guard Derek Fisher played the 2006-07 season for Utah, appearing in all 82 games, starting 61 and averaging 10.1 points and 3.3 assists in 27.9 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)

GONE FOR THE GRAMMY’S
On Thursday, February 2nd, the Lakers headed to Denver, embarking on their annual Grammy’s Trip. Since STAPLES Center opened prior to the 1999-2000 season, the venue has been host to the Grammy Awards each winter, with the exception of the 2003 Grammy Awards, which were held at Madison Square Garden

LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS
Leading for all but 26 seconds of their January 29th victory at Minnesota, the Lakers managed their second road win of the season despite not recording a single steal for only the second time in franchise history. The only other game in which the Lakers did not record a steal came in a January 7, 2005 victory over Houston (111-104). Since the steals statistic began being compiled prior to the 1973-74 season, this was the 47th time a team has not recorded a single steal in a game. With the lack of steals, the Lakers saw the Timberwolves match an opponent franchise record for fewest turnovers in a game (4), originally established in a 108-114 loss 114 loss 12/21/01 at Memphis.

BRYANT BECOMES FRANCHISE LEADER IN FREE THROWS MADE & FIELD GOALS MADE ON BACK-TO-BACK NIGHTS
With a free throw at the 6:34 mark in the third quarter 1/28/12 at Milwaukee, Kobe Bryant surpassed Jerry West (7,160 FTM) as the Lakers franchise leader in free throws made. The following night, on a driving reverse layup with 4:52 remaining in the first half 1/29/12 at Minnesota, Bryant passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (9,935 FGM) as the franchise leader in field goals made. Bryant now holds Lakers franchise records for points, field goals made and attempted, free throws made, three-point field goals made and attempted, games played and minutes played while ranking second in steals and free throws attempted and third in assists.

THE CENTURY MARK
Having gone 7-6 over a 13-game span from 1/5 at Portland thru 1/28 at Milwaukee, the common denominator in each contest, win or lose, was that the Lakers scored fewer than 100 points. The 13-game run of sub 100-point scoring games is the longest streak in franchise history since the introduction of the shot clock prior to the 1954-55 season. Prior to the aforementioned streak, the Lakers scored fewer than 100 points in 12 consecutive games during the 2003-04 season when Los Angeles went 12 games from 1/12/04 - 2/2/04 without hitting triple digits; the Lakers went 6-6 during the stretch of games, eventually scoring 111 points in a 111-106 overtime victory 2/4/04 at Cleveland. The Lakers finished that season with a 98.2 point per game scoring average while limiting their opponents to 94.3 points per game, ultimately winning the West before falling to the Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals. The 98.2 ppg scoring average is the lowest for a Lakers team in the Los Angeles era. In the shot clock era, only the 1954-55 Lakers have averaged fewer points per game in a season (95.6 ppg). Additionally, the only other Lakers 10-game run without scoring at least 100 points in a game came in 2002 (11/3/02 – 11/22/02), with the Lakers going 3-7 during that stretch.