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SALT LAKE CITY - So far the Utah Jazz have been pretty average on defense.
How average?
The Jazz rank 15th in points given up and 15th in opponents field goal percentage in the NBA. Out of 30 teams, that is as average as possible.
But for 12 minutes in the Jazz's 90-87 overtime loss to the Lakers, they played as well as anyone could ask.
| Season Stats | Rank | |
| Points/G | 94.6 | 14 |
| Field Goal % | 44.1 | 15 |
| 3-Point % | 31.2 | 9 |
| Free Throw % | 77.1 | 22 |
| Rebounds/G | 43.3 | 21 |
For the first 5:57 of the second quarter the Jazz were able to hold the Lakers to two points. For the first 6:14 of the fourth quarter the Lakers only scored three. That means that for over a full quarter the Lakers scored just five points.
"If I remember correctly, Kobe was kind of passive during those stretches," said Raja Bell, who guarded Kobe Bryant for most of the game. "He was trying to let other people get involved in the game, and I'm sure that had something do with it. But I do think we were doing something well. We were doubling down and rotating out those things looked good tonight."
As a caveat to that Bryant played only 5:17 of the stretch, but that is close to half that time. And at the end of the day, the rest of the players on the Lakers are also paid to make shots.
Another player that guarded Bryant was Josh Howard, who had another thought about what the Jazz were doing during the stretch.
"We just buckled down," Howard said. "It was time to step up and show we can play defense and that's what we did... but to show signs of great defense like that it should go a long way as the season keeps going."
The rest of the game wasn't terrible for the Jazz's defense, who held the Lakers to 79 points in regulation, especially after giving up 96 in their first encounter. The Jazz were able to keep the Lakers shooting to 42.7 percent.
"We just took it up to another level," said coach Tyrone Corbin. "They missed some shots, but our defense made it tough for them to make shots and that's the most important thing."
One issue for the defense was the night that Bryant had, who ended with 40 points.
"He's tough, video game wise, real-life wise, he's tough," Howard said.
The Jazz were able to make him work for his points and forced him to do it with extra shots.
"Guys like that, you're never going to stop them," Bell said, who fouled out after playing a season-high 33 minutes guarding the Lakers star. "But I can't say it more plainly than, if he shoots 31 shots to get 40 I feel like I've done a good job."
While at the end of the day this will go down as a loss, the defense is improving and Jazz fans can be excited for what they are able to do.
"If you measure us from where we started this season I think you can't take anything but good things away from that," Bell said.
Whether a five-point quarter is possible doesn't matter as much as the amount of improvement the defense has shown in a matter of weeks.
