SALT LAKE CITY – Andrew Bynum wasn’t on the court the first time the Los Angeles Lakers faced the Utah Jazz.
He made his presence felt Wednesday night, with five blocked shots, including a game-saver on Al Jefferson’s short jumper with 1.9 seconds remaining in overtime as the Lakers held on for a 90-87 victory.
Kobe Bryant scored 40 points to lead the Lakers, including a pair of free throws with 0.7 seconds remaining for the final margin.
“Andrew kind of made of his own coverage on Al and we tried to keep telling him to get out of it,” Lakers coach Mike Brown said. “But he didn’t listen to us and whatever he did, worked. So I’m going to add it to my defensive package.”
Jefferson, who was coming off a season-high 30-point effort against Cleveland on Tuesday, was held to 11 points on 5-of-17 shooting.
Paul Millsap led the Jazz with a season-high 29 points, hitting 14 of 24 shots.
The loss was the first at home for the Jazz this season and halted their five-game winning streak.
The Lakers embarrassed the Jazz in Utah’s season-opener, winning by 25 even without Bynum on Dec. 27.
This one was close throughout, with Millsap’s tip-in tying it at
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