Lakers Get Peek at Better Days in Win Over Jazz

It was night and it was indoors, but you could have sworn that was sunshine squeezing through the roof of the Forum on Friday. A ray of encouragement, if nothing else.

The dark clouds that had clouded the Lakers’ attitude and aptitude gave way for at least a couple hours. Instead the Lakers put forth one of the best showings of the season, if not the best, a 116-110 victory over the Utah Jazz before 16,369.

“It gives us a lot of confidence,” Eddie Jones said after his 25 points, eight assists and seven rebounds helped the Lakers end a three-game losing streak and at least temporarily generate some positive emotions for a change. “When you beat a team like Utah, one of the better teams in the league, it can only help you.”

Added Coach Del Harris: “The best game we’ve played this year, that would be facetious to say. But [the best] this season, from start to finish. The ball and player movement was just outstanding, up and down the court, in and out. All the factors.

“No question, the timing may even cloud my judgment. But I think looking at the statistics, it will show we really did a nice job.”

Starting with the season-best 55.1% shooting from the field and six three-point baskets in 10 tries, an area in which the Lakers had been hurting. Then there’s the combined 19 of 34 from starting guards Nick Van Exel and Jones, Van Exel going four of seven from long range to finish with 26 points as they played without top backcourt reserve Anthony Peeler, who was in Missouri for his grandmother’s funeral.

With Cedric Ceballos getting a game-high 28, the 116 points tied for the second most of the season by the Lakers, just four shy of the top mark, Dec. 8 against the expansion Raptors. This by a team that came in having averaged 90 in the three-game skid, this against a team that has proven one of the toughest to score on.

The Lakers began the night last in the league in three-point percentage, but Van Exel, for all his other problems, wasn’t to blame here. He had made 43.1% from behind the line the previous 11 outings, a nice run, then continued it against the Jazz.

He made two in a row late in the first quarter, helping to close a seven-point deficit to one by the end of the period. When he connected again early in the second, the Lakers went up by three, their first lead since 2-0.

In all, Van Exel, shooting 40.2% at tipoff, made seven of his first 13 attempts. Two of the baskets came during an 8-0 rally that gave the Lakers a 61-51 edge in the close seconds of the half, before Chris Morris’ dunk got the Jazz back within eight at intermission.

It was the first time the Lakers had broken 60 in the first half in almost five weeks and only the fifth time all season. Making it more impressive, Utah came in yielding only 97.9 points a game.

Even more impressive than that? Playing the same team that beat them by 17 points last Saturday in Salt Lake City, the Lakers built a 16-point cushion in the third quarter and already had 95 heading into the final period.

There was no real Utah comeback in the fourth quarter. The best the Jazz could do was make it a 12-point game with 9:14 remaining, but L.A. quickly regained control, pushing the lead back to 18 about 4 1/2 minutes later, 106-88.

*

Laker Notes

Derek Strong was the first big man off the bench for the Lakers again. Once out of the rotation, averaging only 7.4 minutes in his first 14 appearances, the free-agent signee has blown past Corie Blount to earn the bulk of the time available to front-court reserves and has gotten the first call each of the last four games. That doesn’t count last Saturday at Utah, when Blount was attending his grandmother’s funeral. Strong has responded by contributing 9.2 points, five rebounds and 61.7% shooting in 21.4 minutes in the nine games before Friday, while Blount had played an average of12.3 minutes in his last nine appearances. “I think that’s what I can do when I get this kind of time,” Strong said. “You get me out there, I’ll get going.” Said Coach Del Harris: “He’s playing awfully well. We need his rebounding, and he’s such a good free-throw shooter for the end of games. That’s another thing that gives Derek an edge.” . . . The Lakers’ 90-89 loss on Tuesday was the first time Philadelphia has won at the Forum since 1984, when Sedale Threatt was a rookie with the 76ers.