Bryant scores 40, Lakers beat Jazz in OT
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China Daily, January 13, 2012
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Andrew Bynum wasn't on the court the first time the Los Angeles Lakers faced the Utah Jazz.
He made his presence felt on Wednesday night, with five blocked shots, including a game-saver on Al Jefferson's short jumper with 1.9 seconds remaining in overtime as the Lakers held on for a 90-87 victory.
Kobe Bryant scored 40 points to lead the Lakers, including a pair of free throws with 0.7 seconds remaining for the final margin.
"Andrew kind of made of his own coverage on Al and we tried to keep telling him to get out of it," Lakers coach Mike Brown said. "But he didn't listen to us and whatever he did, worked. So I'm going to add it to my defensive package."
Jefferson, who was coming off a season-high 30-point effort against Cleveland on Tuesday, was held to 11 points on 5-of-17 shooting.
Paul Millsap led the Jazz with a season-high 29 points, hitting 14 of 24 shots.
The loss was the first at home for the Jazz this season and halted their five-game winning streak.
The Lakers embarrassed the Jazz in Utah's season-opener, winning by 25 even without Bynum on Dec. 27.
This one was close throughout, with Millsap's tip-in tying it at 78 with 21 seconds left in regulation.
Bryant, coming off a 48-point game on Tuesday night at home against Phoenix, missed a shot at the buzzer that would have won it in regulation for Los Angeles.
Millsap then scored the first four points of overtime, but the Lakers fought back, with 3-pointers by Bryant and Pau Gasol.
"Pau's got a green light to shoot the 3," Brown said. "As you can tell, guys trust him. Kobe made a pass to him late in the game at a crucial point. To see him step and knock it down was huge for us."
Seven-foot Bynum came up even bigger.
He made just 5 of 13 shots, but his tip-in with 51 seconds left in OT put the Lakers ahead 88-87.
Millsap brought the Jazz within one, then after Bryant's miss, the Jazz found themselves with a chance to win.
Gordon Hayward had the ball and started toward the lane, only to pass it to Jefferson underneath.
Bynum was there.
"It was just a reaction," Bynum said about his block. "I'm lucky he went for the quick flip."
Hayward said he thought about shooting it himself.
"The clock's winding down, a final scramble and we didn't know what was going on," Hayward said. "There were 8 seconds left, so I got to make a play. Maybe I could have shot a 1-2 pull-up, but I thought it was the right play, the right pass. We got a good look. Bynum just made a good play."
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