ASSOCIATED PRESS

January 4, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY – Without having to worry about Kobe Bryant, Andrei Kirilenko seemed to be guarding the rest of the Lakers all by himself.

Kirilenko finished with seven blocks and six steals to go with his 14 points, eight rebounds and nine assists last night in the Utah Jazz's 90-80 victory over the Lakers.

The Jazz swept a home-and-home series with the slumping Lakers, who were without Bryant again as he completed a two-game suspension for throwing an elbow last week.

Kirilenko disrupted the Lakers all night, but especially in the fourth quarter, when he blocked four shots and the Jazz pulled away for its fifth straight win.

"I thought he was playing the wrong sport for a while," Lakers coach Phil Jackson joked. "It looked like our guys were setting him up for sets. Some of the guys were just putting it up there on a tee or something."

Kirilenko accomplished the rare feat of getting at least five in every positive category for the third time in his career and moved the Jazz into a first-place tie with Minnesota in the Northwest Division.

"I like the game much more when it comes with a win. I feel twice better," said Kirilenko, whose English slips a little when he gets excited.

The Jazz took advantage of Bryant's absence and returned to .500 for the first time since they were 4-4.

Utah also has its first five-game winning streak since winning six straight in March 2003, when Karl Malone and John Stockton were making their final push to the playoffs.

"Andrei makes a huge, huge difference when he's out there, but we can't rely on him to take care of all of our mistakes," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "I thought our other people did a good job."

The Lakers will have Bryant again when they host Philadelphia on Friday. After L.A. fell to 15-16, Bryant's return will be welcomed in Los Angeles.

"Without our best offensive player, we've got to play better defense," said Lamar Odom, who led the Lakers with 25 points and eight rebounds.

The Lakers are on their longest losing streak since closing last season 0-6.

L.A. LAKERS		FG	FT	Reb
	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	Pts
Odom	41	10-17	2-3	3-8	4	1	25
Cook	15	1-5	2-2	0-1	0	4	4
Mihm	15	2-4	2-2	1-3	0	4	6
Parker	38	2-9	0-0	0-2	4	2	5
George	34	3-10	2-3	0-2	0	3	8
Walton	32	2-7	1-2	1-3	2	1	5
KBrown	25	4-5	1-2	2-3	2	2	9
Wafer	17	3-9	2-2	0-2	1	4	9
Vujacic	23	2-5	4-4	2-4	2	2	9
Totals	240	29-71	16-20	9-28	15	23	80
Percentages: FG .408, FT .800. 3-Point Goals: 6-19, .316 (Odom 3-4, Vujacic 1-1, Wafer 1-2, Parker 1-6, Cook 0-1, Walton 0-1, George 0-4). Team Rebounds: 13. Team Turnovers: 18 (15 PTS). Blocked Shots: 6 (George 2, K.Brown 2, Cook, Odom). Turnovers: 17 (Walton 3, Odom 3, K.Brown 3, Parker 3, Mihm 2, George, Cook, Vujacic). Steals: 9 (Walton 4, Parker 2, George, Cook, Wafer). Technical Fouls: George, 4:24 third.  A–19,013 (19,911). T–2:08. Officials–Ken Mauer, Tommy Nunez Jr., Leon Wood.
UTAH		FG	FT	Reb
	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	Pts
Kirilenko	42	5-7	3-6	3-8	9	3	14
Okur	37	8-18	4-6	4-10	2	3	20
Collins	19	2-4	2-2	2-4	2	2	6
McLeod	23	2-4	2-2	0-2	2	1	6
Giricek	25	4-10	0-0	0-1	0	4	9
Ostertag	8	0-1	0-0	0-2	1	2	0
Harpring	27	2-4	0-0	1-4	1	3	4
DBrown	17	2-4	4-4	1-3	0	1	8
Whaley	7	1-2	0-0	0-2	0	1	2
Williams	25	8-15	1-2	1-3	3	1	19
Palacio	6	1-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	2
Humphries	3	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Totals	240	35-71	16-22	12-39	21	21	90
Pct: FG .493, FT .727. 3-Point Goals: 4-12, .333 (Williams 2-6, Kirilenko 1-2, Giricek 1-2, Okur 0-2). Team Reb: 8. Team Turnovers: 18 (18 PTS). Blocked Shots: 10 (Kirilenko 7, Collins 2, Ostertag). Turnovers: 18 (Giricek 5, Williams 4, McLeod 3, D.Brown 2, Collins, Kirilenko, Harpring, Ostertag). Steals: 10 (Kirilenko 6, Williams 2, McLeod, Whaley).
L.A. Lakers		16		29		17	18 – 80
Utah		16		26		21	27 – 90

 »Next Story»