LOS ANGELES - Now this was something completely different for the Lakers.
This was a second consecutive resounding victory, to be sure, but it also was a win for substance over style, sustained persistence over flashes of brilliance.
Excellence in the little things added up to a 119-109 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday night at Staples Center. Team play won it for the Lakers, who had six players score 10 or more points as they improved their record to 2-1.
Kobe Bryant was cheered rather than booed, as he was on opening night. He scored 33 points on 13-for-19 shooting, but there was more to his game than launching jump shots from the perimeter or slashing to the basket.
Bryant's block of Andrei Kirilenko's dunk attempt midway through the fourth quarter enabled the Lakers to preserve a 98-91 lead and had many in a sellout crowd of 18,997 cheering his play. "It's very enjoyable," Bryant said of the manner in which the Lakers won, "but it's important to understand how we're playing this way, that we have to work hard every day and come to practice with a sense of purpose. Although it's encouraging to see what we're doing, we have to keep working."
Derek Fisher added 19 points and made 13-of-14 free throws.
It was his first regular-season game against Utah since the Jazz released him from his contract so he could relocate to a city with medical facilities better suited to dealing with his daughter's rare form of eye cancer. He signed with the Lakers in the summer.
Andrew Bynum had 15 points and nine rebounds before fouling out. Jordan Farmar had 12 points and Ronny Turiaf and Luke Walton added 10 apiece.
Utah, led by Deron Williams' 26 points, also had six players score in double figures. Carlos Boozer added 23 points and 12 rebounds.
"It was just the little things, getting after loose balls, chasing them down," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "I though the last nine minutes, we played really good defense."
Instead of sprinting from one end of the floor to the other, as they did in Friday's 21-point thumping of the Suns in Phoenix, the Lakers were reduced to a more pedestrian pace Sunday against the Jazz.
The Lakers beat up on the Suns in the paint en route to their first victory in Phoenix since the 2003-04 season, but they met their match when they went inside against the more muscular Jazz.
As a result, the game was played in fits and starts in the first half. Highlight-reel worthy plays were few and far between. There wasn't an individual whose play stood out above the rest in the early part of the game. Free throws took on added significance.
It's said the NBA game is made up of runs, but in the case of the Lakers and Jazz on Sunday, it was more like a case of slow jogs. The Lakers' biggest lead was six points; the Jazz's was five. There were 11 lead changes and eight ties.
Bryant led the Lakers with 23 points through three quarters, but their team game was on full display for the second consecutive game. One game after the Lakers' substitutes scored 67 points in the 119-98 win over Phoenix, Jackson turned to his bench again.
"They had a good energy," Jackson said of the backups. "We wanted them to be aggressive, and they were."
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