Kobe Bryant has a bad back but says it should be fine for Game 5.

Larry H. Miller has another payday and at least one more chance to do what he did not on Sunday: watch the team he owns play at home.

And the Jazz have a mother lode of momentum, the result of regrouping in fine-enough fashion Sunday to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 123-115 in overtime of Game 4 and even their best-of-seven NBA Western Conference semifinal series at 2-2.

"We're definitely confident now," said point guard Deron Williams, who had a 29-point, 14-assist double-double and was largely responsible for helping the Jazz keep their poise down a rather adventurous stretch. "But we still have to prove we can win one on the road."

They do, but first they can savor winning a second straight in the series at home.

The hard way.

With Miller not in his usual courtside seat for religious reasons — the Jazz were playing their first Sunday home game since 2001, and first in the playoffs since 2000 — Utah gave a more-raucous-than-usual crowd of 19,911 at EnergySolutions Arena five bonus minutes.

Center Mehmet Okur recovered from a potentially costly mistake late in regulation to hit two long jumpers early in the extra session, and — after Bryant drove to make it 112-110 — small forward Andrei Kirilenko scored three the old-fashioned way to give the Jazz a five-point cushion they protected for the final 35.5 seconds of OT.

After finding Okur from the same set for his two overtime baskets — "They were worried about the pick-and-roll — with (Carlos) Boozer," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said — Williams fed Kirilenko for a reverse dunk.

Kirilenko was fouled by Lamar Odom and hit the ensuing free throw, allowing Williams and Kyle Korver to seal the victory with 4-of-4 free throws apiece.

"They came up and helped on me a little bit," Williams said, "and I saw A.K. (Kirilenko) going backdoor, so I just dumped it off to him, and he did a great job of going up strong."

Williams also was the glue when the Jazz blew a 12-point lead in the final four minutes of the fourth.

Bryant was clearly struggling, having twisted his back on his second shot of the game.

Though he finished with 10 assists and a game-high 33 points, the NBA's recently crowned MVP shot just 2-of-13 in the fourth quarter and OT combined.

Still, the Jazz were concerned by his mere presence.

"He's the MVP," Williams said. "Hurt or not, you've got to respect him, you've got to guard him with everything you have."

"We can't stop him," Sloan added. "If we double him, they've got guys who can really make 3-point shots — and that puts a lot of pressure on you."

That's a reference to Odom and ex-Jazz guard Derek Fisher.

Fisher hit three treys as L.A. whittled away at Utah's lead, and Odom one — off a Bryant drive-and-kick — that tied the game at 106.

In the midst of all that, Okur was tagged with a technical for his fist-pumping reaction to being called for a foul on Pau Gasol.

But Williams — who admitted to cheating to help too much on one of Fisher's 3-pointers, and to getting caught by a backscreen on another — calmed the Jazz down.

"We just had to stick together," he said when asked what he told teammates. "Can't worry about the refs. You just can't. You just have to let things go how they go; if they call a foul, just keep playing. That's all we can do."

That's similar to the Jazz's second-quarter reaction after backup point guard Ronnie Price got clobbered by Lakers big man Ronny Turiaf and crashed to the floor, sustaining a four-stitch cut over his right eye.

They reacted but didn't overreact — and instead fed off the flagrant 2.

"When things like that happen, it gets guys going, it gets guys riled up, just because that's a tense moment in the game," Williams said. "And I think we used that to our advantage. Our crowd definitely got into it."

After Fisher hit a free throw stemming from the call on Okur — "I deserved it, by the way," the big Turk said — the Jazz got back to business.

"We did a good job after that of staying composed, keeping our poise, and doing the things we needed to do to win," Williams said.

Carlos Boozer hit two free throws with 33.7 seconds left in the fourth to break the tie, but Odom — not blocked out by Boozer — followed a Bryant miss to make it 108-108.

The Jazz had 4.6 seconds remaining to win in regulation, but Fisher blocked a 20-footer from Williams, who wished afterward that he had stepped to his right rather than his left to shoot.

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And with that, overtime was on.

"Memo, he got hot for a second (after the tech), but he calmed himself back down and was able to come back and hit some big shots in the end," shooting guard Kyle Korver added. "He was flustered, but he wasn't upset."

With Game 5 on Wednesday in L.A. and Game 6 on Friday in Utah, though, the West's No. 1-seeded Lakers now are just two losses away from being just that.


E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com

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