Jazz stop Lakers in SLC behind Williams Double/Double

The Los Angeles Lakers will head into the NBA’s All Star break off a loss, as they suffered a 114-109 setback to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City.  The Jazz win snapped a seven game Lakers winning streak, and also ended a streak of 7 straight Utah home losses to Los Angeles. 

Jazz pointguard Deron Williams, spurned for an All Star roster spot, had an impressive ‘double/double’ with 31 points and 11 assists.  His performance at least partially negated another big scoring night from Kobe Bryant, who posted 37 points in his final game before the break.  While the Lakers at times gave the impression they were looking ahead to the break, Williams suggested in his post game comments that this was an important matchup for the Jazz:

"It was a big game for us. We battled hard all night on both ends of the floor. We knew Kobe was going to hit some shots but we just kept fighting and we executed at the end there.”

Mehmet Okur added 22 points and 8 rebounds for Utah, while C.J. Miles contributed 17 and Ronnie Brewer 16.  For the Lakers, Lamar Odom again came up big in relief of injured Andrew Bynum with 19 points and 19 rebounds.  Pau Gasol added 16 points, with former Jazz player Derek Fisher contributing 13.  Okur credited his teammates and the home crowd in Salt Lake for providing a ‘playoff like’ atmosphere:

"It was a playoff type of game, very physical. Especially in the last four minutes or so nothing was going to be easy”

Kobe Bryant blamed his team’s setback on a lack of defensive intensity:

"We just didn't play well defensively. We didn't play hard enough on defense. We played lazy. They got a lot of points in the paint and some of that may be tired legs”

The Jazz will resume play after the break with three straight home games, hosting Memphis on Tuesday, the Boston Celtics on Thursday and New Orleans on Saturday.  The Lakers will get back to work on Tuesday as well, hosting the Atlanta Hawks.  They’ll travel to Golden State on Wednesday before hosting the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night.