Utah Jazz Outlast Lakers in Game Four OT, 123-115

For the Los Angeles Lakers, Game Four started with the very same problem they had in Game Three at Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City.

Fisher goes out early with two quick fouls. Jordan Farmar comes in. And Deron Williams goes nuts. That allowed the Jazz to sprint from a 4-4 tie to a 19-9 lead.

The Lakers three-point shooting went cold as well as their free-throw shooting. The quarter ended with the Lakers being completely outplayed at both ends, 31-21.

The scoring was evenly spread out for the Jazz. Ronnie Brewer had eight points, Andrei Kirilinko seven, Williams and Matt Harpring each had six points. Gasol was high for the Lakers with 10 points while Kobe Bryant contributed seven points.

After the quarter, Jackson said "Farmar has to play with the confidence he had earlier in the season." The Lakers coach felt that Farmar would eventually return to form. "That’s okay. We have confidence in him."

The second quarter had just gotten under way when Rony Turiaf committed a flagrant two on Ronnie Price that resulted in Turiaf’s ejection. Then Fisher committed his third foul and had to take a seat once again in favore of Jordan Farmar.

To make matters worse, even though the Lakers outshot and outrebounded the Jazz in the quarter, their foul shooting woes continued. They were just 7 for 17 from the line.

That kept the Lakers from taking the lead at halftime, which ended with a Kobe Bryant buzzer-beater over Ronnie Brewer on a full-court pass inbound pass from Luke Walton that knotted the game at 55.

Bryant led the Lakers with 17 points. Gasol and Odom, who had disappeared in Game 3, reappeared with 13 and 11 points respectively. Sasha Vujacic hit three out of four three-pointers for 11 points.

Jordan Farmar again went scoreless and was unable to contain Deron Williams who had 19 points at halftime. Kirilenko had 10 points and Harpring and Brewer each added eight points for the Jazz.

The Jazz outscored the Lakers 24-20 in the third quarter. But in the fourth quarter it seemed like the Jazz wanted the game more.

They hit shots from the perimeter and scored in the paint on pick and rolls. The only time the Lakers could get the stops they needed were with personal fouls. Or at least that was the way the referees saw it.

But the game suddenly changed at the 4:05 mark with the Jazz up by twelve points,100-88.

Derek Fisher started the Lakers run with a three-pointer and by the the two-minute mark they had managed to cut the Jazz lead down to one point, 104-103.

Then Deron Williams, who almost lost the ball over the half-court line, recovered and hit a 15-foot jumper. But Lamar Odom followed with a three-pointer of his own to knot it once again at 106.

A foul on Boozer by Derek Fisher put the Jazz up by two again. Then a miss by Odom, a rebound by Gasol and a shot by Fisher was knocked out of bounds with 7.8 seconds left. Bryant got the ball on the inbounds but missed the shot. However, Odom was there for the put-back.

Fisher played a last-second jump shot by Williams perfectly and regulation ended in a 108 tie.

In the Overtime period, it was a matter of which team wanted it more. The answer was obvious from the beginning. The Jazz did.

Mehmet Okur did most of the early damage with two field goals. The Jazz defense held the Lakers scoreless until Bryant made a layup with 1:21 left. Then Okur grabbed an offensive rebound on a Korver miss and got the ball out to Williams who got it into Kirilenko for a 3-point play. The Jazz went up 115-110.

The teams exchanged free throws in the last 28 seconds, and the Jazz closed out the game 123-115 to knot the series at two games apiece.

Six Jazz were in double figures. Williams was 29 and 14 for the Jazz. Okur had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Kirilenko 15 points. Boozer was 14 and 12, Korver 14 and 5, Harpring added 12 points.

Now the series shifts back to Los Angeles, but the momentum has shifted to Utah. Game 5 will be Wednesday night at Staples Center.

For the Lakers, Bryant had 33 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists despite injuring his back in the first period. Odom had 26 points and 13 rebounds, Gasol was 23 and 10. Fisher added 15 points. Vujacic failed to score in the second half and finished with 11.