Williams scores 29 to beat Lakers

By JOSH DUBOW

SALT LAKE CITY(AP) Deron Williams scored 29 points and Andrei Kirilenko grabbed two key rebounds late as the Utah Jazz rallied from a 19-point first-half deficit for a 102-96 win over a Los Angeles Lakers team that swept them out of the playoffs last season.

Williams tied the score at 96 with 1:16 remaining on a 3-pointer, then stole the ball and passed to Raja Bell for what proved to be the game-winner.

Ron Artest and Paul Gasol both missed shots late for the Lakers (13-3), which saw their five-game winning streak end.

The Jazz won their third straight to improve to 12-5.

Kobe Bryant scored 14 straight points for the Lakers in a 2:25 span late in the fourth quarter as the Lakers rallied from an 83-82 deficit to take a 96-91 lead with 2:12 remaining.

But Williams, who Bryant called the best point guard in the league before the game, took over.

He was just 5 of 15 at one point before finishing with a game-high 31 points on 10-of-21 shooting.

Al Jefferson added 20 points and eight rebounds in holding his own against the Lakers' Pau Gasol (21 points, 11 rebounds).

Utah's other guards got the Jazz back in the game when it looked like they were finished.

The second quarter belonged to the two shortest players on the court. Utah's Ronnie Price and Earl Watson, at 6-foot-2 and 6-1, respectively, ignited an 11-0 run to pull the Jazz to 39-22 after Los Angeles had taken a 19-point lead.

Price started the run with a running one-handed slam on a pass from Watson. Watson and Price then hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Paul Millsap followed with a three-point-play off a nice pass underneath from Watson. Watson then took it the length of the court to pull Utah to 39-32 with 6:08 remaining.

Then it was Williams' turn. He hit a 3-pointer and a fastbreak layup over Lamar Odom to pull Utah to 44-42 with 3:09 left in the first half.

Millsap, on an assist from Williams, gave Utah its first lead, 46-45, on a short jumper with 1:48 left in the first half.

The Lakers took a 50-46 lead into halftime as Gasol and Bryant combined for the next five points.

Los Angeles, after shooting 68.4 percent in the first quarter, made just 4 of 21 in the second quarter (19 percent) as Utah closed the gap.

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Phil Jackson – (13-3 this season)
On the game
"They have a lot of energy. They got their small guard group and they got some penetration, did some things. Defensively they played a little better but that is going to happen on this court. They are going to have games like that. The real thing about that game was we let it get away on that turnover steal that (Raja) Bell got. There will be some tough times on the road. The road is not always easy out there."

On the shot clock situation
"That's a tough break on our part. It was one of those things where an air ball turned into a three-point play eventually after multiple stops and corrections. It just got all messed up at the end of the game. Pau (Gasol) did not handle the ball well and subsequent play after that. It changed the context of the game."

Kobe Bryant – Guard (31 points, 3 assists)
On the game

Pau Gasol – Center (21 points, 11 rebounds)
On the Bell steal in the final minutes

Jerry Sloan – (12-5 this season)
On the game
"It looked pretty bleak out there in the early part of the ballgame when they got out to a pretty good lead on us. Again our second group came in and gave us a tremendous lift. They got the fans behind us. Their energy level jumped up a great deal. We ran the ball up the floor and got a couple lay-ups out of it and I think that really made a difference in our confidence level. We had a lot of guys play well. Obviously you have to play against this team. You see Kobe Bryant go off for what he did, we went and doubled him finally. We came out of it alive. Looked like we were going to crumble a little bit, but our guys kept fighting. That's the one thing that was really impressive for us. Keep battling, give yourself a chance. Doesn't make any difference who you're playing. Don't be intimidated and I thought we stuck with it all night after we got past the first quarter."

On Al Jefferson
"He made some shots around there. I thought he made a couple nice passes. Teams are going to recognize that. Make a little adjustment here and there, make a couple passes and that certainly makes things a lot easier for him. A lot easier for our team to get easier baskets."

Deron Williams – Guard (29 points, 12 assists)
On the game:
"It was a great win for us. Again, the first quarter was bad, but the second group again just gave us the energy that we needed. It makes us [the first group] want to play harder. As we see how hard they're playing, we can't let them go out there and do all the fighting. Once the second group came in, I thought we did a much better job defensively, rebounding the ball better and getting up the floor a lot better. "We're going to get better as we play more together, just as any team does."

On stopping Kobe Bryant
"Coach made the adjustment. He doubled him, made him give up the ball. Anytime a guy like that gets into a rhythm you have to get the ball out of his hands. I think it helped us a lot."
On winning the boards
"That was another keeper, I thought the field goal percentage and winning the boards was what won us the game tonight."
On the potential of the Jazz
"If we can survive our first quarters I think we're as good as anybody. A matter of doing what we did this game from the second quarter on. It's just getting stops, executing well, every possession counts."

C.J. Miles – Guard (4 points, 4 rebounds) On the game
"We played hard and got the crowd behind us. Guys made good shots and Deron took us home in the end.

On whether the comeback seemed the same as the previous comebacks this season
"Today it didn't seem like it (the same). Just the way the game was going. We were missing shots and they were getting good breaks. They made some shots, but we knew that it wasn't going to be that bad. They were just hot, so it was kind of different from the way we got down before. And then that second group, we just tried to bring energy."

On this win being the most important win of the season
"Definitely, one of them. It's definitely been a great test the last couple of games. Two good teams we've played against, and to be able to show that we can play against those guys."

On Kobe Bryant going off in the fourth quarter
"You knew it was coming. Everybody in the building knows in the four minutes you're up six, who's going to get the ball the last four minutes of the game. And we were talking, the last three of the four years they've ran that same play the last three or four minutes of the game."

Raja Bell– Guard (9 points, 3 rebounds)
On wins building toughness
"I think that it's a big stepping stone for us as a team. We've played some good pretty good teams and come back, but we haven't played anybody with the resume of the Lakers and been able to come back, especially on our home floor where we've struggled a bit. It was a good win for us and I think we all now believe we can do it. Now we just need to find a way to come out of the gates and really start to assert ourselves early in the game."

On the arena atmosphere
"Yeah, it was pretty incredible in there tonight. I came out for shootaround early and I was getting heckled by Lakers fans. And then to hear the crowd out there tonight late in the game, even early in the game when we started making a run, it was a pretty special atmosphere."

Al Jefferson – Forward (20 points, 8 rebounds)
On the game and what the win means to him
"I haven't beaten the Lakers in probably six years, since I left Boston, and I haven't been in a playoff game in six years and it felt like a playoff game. Every possession counted. Kobe Bryant being who he is, and we were down, we fought back, we didn't give up. We won against all odds. It was just amazing man. I'm overwhelmed. It's never been like this before, and to be a part of this. It just meant a lot to me."

On the team
"We're coming together. We know what it takes. We know if we play great defense, rebound, and run the floor, if we get stops, we'll be able to run and it's been working for us. When the Lakers went up 19 on us, we didn't panic. We knew we had been there before. We knew how to adjust to that and the second unit once again was the big for us, real big. They brought both their energy and got us back in the game. And then our captain, our leader, that boy [Deron Williams] is something special. He brought us home."

LAKERS VS. JAZZ GAME PREVIEW

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN, STATS Senior Writer

The Utah Jazz have lost all three home games against teams that made the playoffs last season. They'd really like to get their first such win against the team that has knocked them out of the postseason three straight years.

The Jazz face the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night for the first time since being swept in last season's playoffs.

Los Angeles (13-2) has dominated Utah, winning 10 of 14 regular-season games over the past four seasons and going 12-3 in the postseason over the last three. The Jazz (11-5) were swept last season for the first time in 21 years as the Lakers cruised in the conference semifinals.

Utah is 5-3 at home, falling to Phoenix, Oklahoma City and San Antonio. The Jazz replaced last season's leading scorer, Carlos Boozer, withAl Jefferson at power forward, and are eager to see how they match up against the two-time defending champions.

"It will be an exciting game for our team and the fans," Jefferson said after a 105-87 win over New Orleans on Wednesday. "We're a lot bigger this year and we got a great confidence boost tonight."

The Jazz had no answers for Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol during the Lakers' sweep. Bryant averaged 32.0 points and 5.8 assists, and Gasol 23.5 points on 60.7 percent shooting and 14.5 rebounds.

Los Angeles also did a good job against Deron Williams in last season's playoffs, limiting him to 38.7 percent shooting although he averaged a team-high 22.0 points. Williams had 26 points, 11 assists and a season-high five steals Wednesday.

The Lakers may have gotten a head start on their preparation for this game in their fifth straight win Tuesday, 98-91 over Chicago. The Bulls'Derrick Rose had 30 points and eight assists but missed all four shots in the fourth quarter as Los Angeles did a better job of focusing on him.

"Sometimes we play that way with Deron Williams as well," forwardLamar Odom said. "And he's their first option and he has to go first."

Utah has one of the NBA's least productive benches, averaging 23.9 points. The reserves, though, helped key a 13-4 run to start the second quarter Wednesday for a 44-34 lead.

"They played big," said Jefferson, who had 23 points and 10 rebounds. "They came in and boosted us up big-time. It's amazing how well they're playing."

Los Angeles continues to get solid play from reserve Shannon Brown,who scored 21 points Tuesday and is averaging 15.0 over his last seven games.

"He's got so much confidence right now," coach Phil Jackson said. "We're encouraging him to (shoot) when it feels right. Otherwise, he's got such a great drive, teams have to play back off him because of his speed."

The Lakers are averaging a league-best 111.5 points despite putting up their lowest total while shooting a season-low 39.5 percent against the Bulls. They are more encouraged by holding their last four opponents below 40 percent from the field.

"The more games we have like this, the more we understand how to play off each other defensively," Bryant said.