| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
 GAME FLOW
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Los Angeles Lakers celebrated beforehand. Utah's aging superstars made sure they weren't doing so afterward.
|  | | Karl Malone, left, scored 12 of his 26 points in the final 6½ minutes, ensuring the Jazz would win. |
Karl Malone scored 12 of his 26 points in the final 6½ minutes and pulled down 11 rebounds, and John Stockton had 21 points and 14 assists Wednesday night as the Jazz beat the defending NBA champions 97-92.
Bryon Russell added 18 points and Quincy Lewis came off the
bench to score 14 for the Jazz, who took the lead for good in the
opening three minutes but had to hold off the Lakers in the late
going for their second straight victory.
Before the game, the Lakers raised their seventh championship banner and received their championship rings in a 15-minute ceremony. They won their first title since 1988 last June, beating the Indiana Pacers in the finals.
But the Jazz won this game thanks mainly to the 37-year-old
Malone and 38-year-old Stockton.
"A win to me is a win," Malone said. "They're the champions, of course we want to beat them on their floor. It's a big win, I'm not going to lie to you."
Malone made the game's biggest shot, connecting on a 15-foot
jumper off an assist from Stockton to give the Jazz a 91-88 lead
with 33.9 seconds left. Lewis made two free throws five seconds
later to give Utah what proved to be enough points for the victory.
"He just made a heck of a shot, a very tough shot," Stockton said of his longtime teammate. I've seen it time and time again.
"This was a good opportunity to catch the Lakers, they had the
celebration before the game. We played decently, we've got a lot of
work left to do."
The Lakers were a two-man team for the most part offensively, as Shaquille O'Neal scored 34 points and Kobe Bryant added 31. O'Neal
also had 15 rebounds, but shot only 6-of-18 on free throws.
"They just played a better game than we did," O'Neal said.
"They hit shots, moved the ball around and took care of the ball,
and we did the opposite. However, we still had opportunities to win
the game."
Said Bryant: "Stockton played like the old Stockton, the young one."
The Jazz entered the fourth quarter with a 65-56 lead. The Lakers got as close as six points before a jumper by Malone and a dunk by Russell off an assist from Stockton made it 84-74 with four minutes remaining.
However, the Lakers battled back, and a jumper by Bryant with
1:19 left cut Utah's lead to 89-88. With a chance to take the lead,
the Lakers committed a turnover, and Malone then made his big shot
to give Utah a three-point lead.
Lewis, Russell and John Starks made two foul shots apiece after that as the Jazz pulled away.
"We made a good comeback," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.
"We faltered in the end and had a couple of missed plays."
Utah coach Jerry Sloan pointed to his team's 33-for-66 shooting
night including 10-of-16 in the fourth quarter.
"We made our shots, I think that always helps," he said.
Of Malone and Stockton, Sloan said: "They always come to play, I don't have to jack 'em up to get them ready to play. That's what they're paid for. I have tremendous respect with how they come ready to play. Yeah, they've lost. But they still love to play."
Perhaps still mentally involved in the pre-game celebration, the
Lakers were outhustled and outplayed in every aspect of a sub-par
first half, which ended with the Jazz leading 44-31.
The Jazz scored the first five points of the second period for a 12-point lead, and a 12-1 run extended Utah's advantage to 18 before O'Neal scored all of his team's points in a 6-1 run to close the half.
Game notes
The game was the first between the teams at Staples Center
since the Lakers handed Utah a 113-67 setback last February, the
most lopsided loss for the Jazz in nearly 14 years. It was the
first of 19 straight Los Angeles wins... Malone finished the game
319 points behind Wilt Chamberlain, the second-leading scorer in
NBA history. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a member of five NBA championship
teams with the Lakers in the 1980s, is No. 1 with 38,387 points in
a record 20 seasons. ... Lakers forward Robert Horry missed the
game to be in Alabama for his grandmother's funeral. Horry, who
also missed Tuesday night's season-opening 96-86 win at Portland,
is expected to rejoin the Lakers in time to play in Vancouver on
Saturday. ... Stockton, the NBA's all-time leader in assists, needs
to play in only 11 more games to surpass John Havlicek's NBA record
of 1,270 games with the same team. ... Los Angeles reserves missed
their first 13 shots and were held scoreless until Brian Shaw made
a jumper with 11:05 left in the game. Isaiah Rider scored all 10 of
his points in the fourth quarter.
| |
ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Utah Clubhouse
LA Lakers Clubhouse
Lakers ring in new season with ceremony to remember last season
RECAPS
Boston 103
Detroit 83
Philadelphia 104
Toronto 98
Washington 95
Charlotte 77
Cleveland 102
Sacramento 100
Miami 105
Orlando 79
Seattle 112
Denver 99
Utah 97
LA Lakers 92
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Shaquille O'Neal slams down the pass from Kobe Bryant.
avi: 461 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
|
