Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
By DOUG ALDEN AP Sports Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- After some of the comebacks the Utah Jazz have had this season, seven points was nothing.
The Jazz rallied again, outscoring the Los Angeles Lakers by 12 in the final quarter and winning 114-108 Friday night to improve to an NBA-best 12-1.
Utah held Kobe Bryant to just two points in the final quarter and outrebounded the Lakers 16-4 in the fourth while winning its eighth straight.
"They made their run, they got us down a little bit. We just fought back and took the game over," said Deron Williams, who scored 11 of his 15 points in the final quarter.
Carlos Boozer had 31 points and 16 rebounds and Andrei Kirilenko blocked five shots in his first game back after missing five with a sprained ankle.
Bryant scored 27, but he went 0-for-3 in the fourth with Kirilenko guarding him much of the time.
"Here's a situation where Andrei Kirilenko had four points in the ballgame and he was instrumental in us winning," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "There's no question about that. He was terrific."
In their previous three games, the Jazz needed to rally from 16 points down twice and 21 points once to win. So the Lakers' 89-82 lead early in the fourth quarter didn't seem like much at all.
Utah outscored the Lakers 32-20 in the final period, closing with a 7-1 run which Boozer punctuated by grabbing an offensive rebound and putting it back in with 8.7 seconds left to put it out of reach.
Lamar Odom finished with 26 for the Lakers, who had won four in a row. He was also the Lakers' top rebounder with six.
The Lakers were just 6-for-17 from the floor in the fourth quarter. After making all five of their 3-point attempts in the third, the Lakers cooled off in the fourth and couldn't overcome Utah's huge advantage on the boards.
Utah outrebounded Los Angeles 45-27 and outscored the Lakers 23-9 on second-chance points.
"I told them they had nothing to be ashamed of except that rebound total when they look at it," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.
Mehmet Okur also had a double-double for Utah with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Derek Fisher scored 13 against his former team, Gordan Giricek added 12 points and Matt Harpring scored 10.
Kwame Brown scored 15 and Luke Walton finished with 13 points for the Lakers.
Williams also had 10 assists and led the Jazz back after they fell behind by seven early in the fourth quarter.
"They're just playing extremely well," Bryant said.
Williams grabbed a loose ball after getting blocked by Smush Parker and made a 22-footer to put Utah ahead 107-104. Then after Odom converted a three-point play to tie it with 1:18 left, Williams hit a 3-pointer with a minute left.
"He made some big plays," Boozer said. "He had a tough game going for him and he didn't think about it."
Odom missed on a 3-pointer and the rebound bounced to Williams, who made both his free throws with 38 seconds left. After a free throw by Odom, Boozer put back the offensive board to cap it.
Notes:@ Kirilenko had his 19th block of the season two minutes into the game when Odom tried to drive on him. Kirilenko had two more blocks in the quarter. ... After opening the game 22-for-25 from the line, the Lakers were 8-for-12 on free throws in the fourth quarter. ... Okur, Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis and Sloan all received technical fouls.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-11-24-06 2251MST
