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LOS ANGELES -— The Jazz wanted to get off to a better start.
And they did.
But it was mostly downhill from there Tuesday night at sold-out Staples Center, where the defending NBA-champion Los Angeles Lakers beat Utah 111-103 in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series.
"We came out, we started out the ballgame like we talked about," Jazz point guard Deron Williams said. "You know, we started out good. We started off making extra passes ... and then it's like we want to do it by ourselves.
"We can't do it like that."
The Jazz — despite being down by 15 points late in the third quarter, and 12 early in the fourth — were, though, within four with just under five minutes to go.
But L.A. outscored them 13-9 from there, giving the West's No. 1 seed Lakers a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven second-round playoff matchup that resumes Saturday night in Utah.
"We were right there," Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer said. "Unfortunately, we didn't pull it out again, but I feel like we can play better, which is encouraging."
The biggest Laker dagger was a Kobe Bryant 3-pointer that — with the help of a slow but friendly roll, one so agonizing it had actor and longtime Laker diehard Jack Nicholson wiggled fingers on both hands against his face — made it 105-96 with 2:45 left.
"I was proud of the fact that our guys fought back I the ball game," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "I thought we had a chance. They blocked a couple shots when we came down the stretch, and Kobe made the 3."
Bryant had a game-high 30 points, Pau Gasol added 22 points and 15 rebounds, Andrew Bynum contributed 17 points and a career playoff-high 14 rebounds and Ron Artest had 16 points for the Lakers, who dominated inside much of the night, winning the battle of the boards 58-40, outscoring the Jazz 64-50 in the paint and blocking a whopping 13 shots.
"We're not gonna be frustrated, we're not gonna be demoralized, we're not gonna back down, we're not gonna give up," Boozer said when asked about L.A.'s size advantage. "We're gonna keep fighting, we're gonna keep attacking, we're gonna stay aggressive.
"You know, some of those calls could have been fouls. But they weren't. Not tonight. And hopefully when we keep attacking, we'll get some more calls in Salt Lake City."
Utah actually led by as many as seven with an 11-4 start in the first four minutes.
But that was the bulk of success the Jazz would enjoy on a night that left them with little hope for upending a Lakers club that took the regular-season series 3-1 and that already has eliminated them from each of the past two seasons.
"We've just to get some shots," Williams said. "We only shot 38 (actually 39.6) percent.
"A lot of my shots, I thought I got fouled on," added Williams, who finished only 4-for-16 from the field. "So, I've got to, you know, keep going. They're calls I got all series last series (against Denver). They're not there, so I've got to find other ways to score."
It was the 16th straight loss to the Lakers in L.A. for the No. 5 seed Jazz, including eight playoff games in three years.
Utah, playing its seventh straight postseason games without both injured center Mehmet Okur (ruptured Achilles) and forward Andrei Kirilenko (strained calf) shot just 34.7 percent from the field during an opening half in which its only double-digit scorer was backup power forward Paul Millsap with 16.
Millsap finished with a team-high 26 points and rebounds for the Jazz, who also got 20 points and 12 boards from Boozer, 20 points from C.J. Miles, 15 from Williams and 14 from Wesley Matthews.
Kyrylo Fesenko was 1-for-5 from the field, Miles 2-for-8, Williams 2-for-7 and Boozer 4-for-12 before the break for the Jazz, who trailed by as many as 14 in the second quarter and 58-46 heading into the second half.
The Lakers shot 52.3 percent during that initial half, one in which they outscored the Jazz 38-22 in the paint and out-rebounded Utah 33-23.
The closest the Jazz got in the third quarter was eight when Kosta Koufos hit a 20-foot jumper with 35.7 seconds left into the period, but L.A. went into the fourth up 87-77 after a late and short Bryant turnaround.
A layup from Miles made it 98-94 Lakers with 5:01 left, but L.A. answered with a 5-0 spurt in which Bryant made 3-for-4 free throws and Artest scored on a tip-in — with an Odom block on Boozer in between.
Sloan conceded the loss, but didn't agree with at least one assessment of it.
"That is part of basketball, and I do not like to use the word 'disheartening,' " he said. "I thought our guys played hard to try to stay in the ballgame."
