SALT LAKE CITY — Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum had a night to forget, as did the Lakers, in many ways.
Amid the din of the notoriously loud EnergySolutions Arena, the Utah Jazz showed there was some meaningful basketball left in a first-round series with the Lakers, delivering an 88-86 victory Thursday in Game 3.
Deron Williams scored on a 14-footer with 2.2 seconds left and the Jazz sliced the Lakers' lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Saturday at Utah.
An NBA team has never come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series, so Utah was wise to win before its chances evaporated into the thin Salt Lake air.
Bryant helped, making an abysmal five of 24 shots, as did Bynum, totaling four points and five fouls in seven minutes.
In the end, Bryant's 28-foot three-point attempt sailed wide right, glancing off the side of the rim as time expired.
"I know I played bad . . . " Bryant said as he sat down for postgame interviews with reporters. "It was a combination of two things. One, I just didn't shoot the ball well. Two, they did a good job of mixing up their defense. . . . It's my responsibility to put the ball in the hole."
Almost all of the Lakers had trouble with that, combining to shoot 36.8%. Lamar Odom was steady off the bench with 21 points, but that might have been it for highlights.
Utah played again without injured center Mehmet Okur (strained hamstring) and also juggled its starting lineup, inserting Andrei Kirilenko in place of Kyle Korver at small forward.
Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan was hoping for a defensive spark from Kirilenko. The Lakers, after all, shot 57.8% over the first two games.
Something definitely worked in the first quarter. The Jazz led, 26-17, as the Lakers made only six of 25 shots (24%).
Bryant, in particular, seemed to be off all night. He missed his first five shots and was only one of 10 with six points as the Lakers trailed at halftime, 43-39.
Heading into the game, Bryant noticed the development of "almost an identical pattern," knowing that the Lakers won the first two games of last season's Western Conference semifinals against Utah before coming here, where they lost Games 3 and 4.
Bryant hoped for something different this season.
"It'd be nice to go up there and see how much we've progressed from last year," he said Wednesday.
Apparently, there's still room for improvement.
