After finishing three games in roughly 56 hours with their best effort yet,Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers demonstrated why their demise might not be as imminent as many thought. Bryant scored 26 points,Pau Gasol added 22 points and nine rebounds,and the Lakers avoided just the fourth 0-3 start in franchise history with a 96-71 victory over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night. Metta World Peace scored 14 points for the Lakers,who had much more life than the Jazz despite playing their third game in three nights to open the season. Los Angeles ran away with a dominant third quarter,making a 27-8 surge out of halftime in the clubs first win for coach Mike Brown. After a tumultuous preseason under a new coaching staff,several injuries and the NBAs only three-games-in-three-nights start,the Lakers realise theyre still lacking a consistent identity and a thorough knowledge of Browns game plan. At least a blowout win over the Jazz allowed them to enjoy their first day off since training camp began. Were a very active team, Bryant said. This is a blue-collar team. Were a scrappy bunch. You saw that. Were going to fight and scratch and claw for everything,as it should be. Thatll get us by. With a Christmas loss to the Chicago Bulls and another defeat in Sacramento one night later,the Lakers got off to their first 0-2 start since the 2002-03 season. But Los Angeles has started 0-3 just three times in franchise history just once in the last 50 years (1978-79). Utah missed 17 of its first 19 shots in the second quarter while the Lakers made a 13-0 run capped by a one-handed dunk by World Peace,the normally ground-bound leader of Los Angeles second unit. Los Angeles blew out the Jazz after halftime,jumping to a 68-39 lead with a 12-2 run. Shutting out Utah To hold a team to 32 percent and 71 points in an NBA game,I dont care who youre playing,youre doing something right on that end of the floor, Brown said. The Lakers comprehensively shut down the Jazz,the last NBA team to open its regular season. Paul Millsap had 18 points and 10 rebounds for Utah,but coach Tyrone Corbin scowled throughout the lowest-scoring performance in an opener in franchise history. In the Jazzs first season opener without coach Jerry Sloan running their bench since 1988,Utah made just 20 shots in the first three quarters and shot 20 fewer free throws than the Lakers. Al Jefferson went 2 for 16,C.J. Miles was 1 for 8,and rookie Enes Kanter was 1 for 7 in his NBA debut. At least Utahs 25-point loss was one point better than the biggest blowout loss in Utah opener history. It didnt seem like much was working for us, said Utah forward Gordon Hayward. It felt like we were a little stagnant,just standing around and watching a little bit. They kind of blew it open in the third quarter,and we cant allow that to happen. But its just one game. We just need to be more confident shooters.
