Kobe Bryant leads Lakers over Jazz

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kobe Bryant scored six of his 33 points in the final 4 1/2 minutes after blocking an attempted dunk by Andrei Kirilenko, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah Jazz 119-109 on Sunday night.

Playing their second straight game against a reigning division champion, the Lakers made it two in a row after humbling the Suns 119-98 at Phoenix on Friday night. Bryant was 13-for-19 from the field and fellow guard Derek Fisher added 17 points, including a career-high 13 free throws. Andrew Bynum had 15 points and nine rebounds off the bench before fouling out with 55 seconds to play.

Deron Williams led Utah with 26 points and Carlos Boozer added 23 points and 12 rebounds.

Trailing 82-81 after three quarters, the Lakers pulled ahead 88-82 on Bynum’s fast-break dunk and a pair of driving layups by backup point guard Jordan Farmar, the second one resulting in a 3-point play with 10:44 remaining. Farmar finished with 12 points.

The Lakers had a seven-point margin when Bryant blocked Kirilenko’s driving dunk with 6:10 remaining. They built their lead to 109-96 with 3:11 to play, getting a three-point play from Bynum and a pair of baskets by Bryant.

Fisher missed all seven of his shots in the first half, but made his first three field-goal attempts in the second half and added a pair of free throws that gave the Lakers a 72-71 lead with 3:54 left in the third quarter. Fisher played the final 4:49 after Farmer gave the Lakers the spark they needed at both ends of the court.

Neither team led by more than six points in the first half, which ended with Utah taking a 51-46 lead on a 3-pointer by Williams and a dunk by Kirilenko in the final 39 seconds.

The Lakers led 25-21 after one quarter despite committing eight turnovers in the first 9 minutes. Three of them were by Bryant — two on errant passes and one on a palming violation. Los Angeles finished with 19 turnovers.

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