Even after they lost Sunday to Golden State, Jerry Sloan sensed his Jazz would be up for what was to come.
Were they ever.
In a flash back to their second-round playoff series last May, Utah and the Los Angeles Lakers tangled Wednesday night in a regular-season outing — the last for both teams before the NBA All-Star Game break — played amid a raucous atmosphere that more than one in the Jazz lockerroom simply described as "fun."
Sloan enjoyed watching his Jazz hold on to beat Kobe Bryant and the 42-10 Lakers 113-109 at sold-out EnergySolutions Arena.
"It was a big win, and I thought our guys played extremely well," the Jazz coach said after his 30-23 team — combined with Phoenix's loss to Cleveland — made it to the break with a one-game hold on the Western Conference's eight and final playoff position.
"We made maybe a couple mistakes, but we held our composure."
They needed to.
Because All-Star Bryant had a game-high 37 points for the league-leading Lakers, who came in having won both seven in a row overall and seven straight on the road, and his strip steal from Kyle Korver under the basket led to a layup that tied the game at 107 with one minute and two seconds to go.
That combined with the Jazz missing 8-of-12 free throws in the final 6:52, including 3-of-3 by point guard Deron Williams in the last 25.1 seconds alone, did not make things easy for Sloan's club.
But Mehmet Okur's 3-pointer with 48.8 seconds left broke the tie and put Utah up 110-107, and that together with the freebies Williams did hit down the stretch allowed the Jazz to go into the break having won five of their last seven games.
"I was pleased," said Sloan, whose Jazz lost to the Lakers
in that 2008 series, "with the fact they didn't give up."
For that, credit goes all around.
Williams made 12-of-17 from the field and scored a team-high 31 points, his fifth consecutive game with 30-plus — the first time a Jazz player has done that since Karl Malone had six straight in 1997.
Starting small forward C.J. Miles played more than he ever has on Bryant, and did a commendable job leading the Jazz defense on a player Sloan called "great."
Bryant did finish with a game-high 37 points, but he hit just 6-of-20 from the field after the Lakers took a two-point led into the second half.
"I was mad he made (the 3-pointer to take the lead at 105-104), but, at the same time, he makes shots like that," Miles said. "I was just content knowing I was there on every shot he took.
"That was my biggest thing — to make him work, and stay on his body, and not just let him run around free."
And Okur struck from behind the long-distance line when it was needed most, boosting his total to 22 with the trey that put Utah ahead to stay.
"I knew it was going to come for me," said Okur, who had made just two of his previous five 3-point attempts.
Miles, too, sensed that things would turn out well — even after Bryant scored seven straight to tie it.
"There was too much time," he said. "Deron was playing well, and I felt confident in everything I was doing."
No wonder Sloan, who on Tuesday still was seething over the loss to the Warriors, was beaming with such pride Wednesday.
"A lot of people were involved," he said, citing as well the play of Matt Harpring off the bench and Ronnie Brewer.
"We had three or four guys get busted in the mouth," Sloan added. "When you fight through all those things, and come out and play, that's when you know you really like to play basketball."
NOTE: Postgame X-rays on Harpring's right wrist, which he banged against a basket stanchion, were negative.
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com