Jazz at Lakers - 12/7/03 (Devean George game-winner)

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• published: 07 Feb 2012
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The "no-name" Utah Jazz gave the NBA's best team - the 16-3 "Dream Team" Los Angeles Lakers - everything they could handle on a Sunday night at Staples Center. Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton powered LA to a 21-point lead midway through the 3rd-quarter, but Utah refused to go away. Behind the likes of backup rookies Mo Williams and Sasha Pavlovic, 30-year old rookie Ben Handlogten, and journeymen Raja Bell and Jarron Collins - the Utah Jazz scrapped and clawed (6:29-mark) their way back into the game, eventually taking a 1-point lead with 55-seconds left (9:42-mark). Shaq answered with 2 free throws before Mo Williams calmly drilled a 20-footer to again put Utah up, 92-91 with 36.5-seconds remaining (10:13-mark). LA had one final answer, as Gary Payton found Devean George on the wing for the game-winning 3-pointer (10:33-mark) with 24.9 sec left. Utah had two chances to tie, but both shots were off the mark and the Lakers escaped with a 94-92 victory. Rookie Mo Williams led Utah with 16 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. DeShawn Stevenson scored 13, Pavlovic 12, and Raja Bell and Matt Harpring added 10. Shaquille O'Neal turned in a terrific all-around performance with 19 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists and Kobe Bryant scored 19 as well. George chipped in 16, and Gary Payton and Slava Medvedenko added 15. The game was supposed to be the first time Laker PF Karl Malone faced his former team, but the league suspended Malone 1 game for elbowing Steve Nash in the previous game. Following the departures of John Stockton and Karl Malone, experts were lining up to pick the Jazz as the worst team in the league: -ESPN's Marc Stein ranked the Jazz dead-last and wrote: "Poor Sloan and the Jazz faithful are in for a culture shock." -ESPN contributor Frank Hughes wrote the Jazz "could be the worst team in NBA history." He continued "I don't mean like [LA] Clippers bad. I mean like 9-win Philadelphia 76ers bad." -ESPN's Chad Ford wrote even the aquistion of Keon Clark (who played all of 2 games for Utah) "won't be enough to keep Utah from having the worst record in the league." Fortunately for the Jazz, they still had longtime coaches Jerry Sloan and Phil Johnson - and with a cast comprised largely of no-name players, shocked the NBA by winning 42-games, finishing just 1-win shy of making the playoffs. LA Starters: PG Gary Payton SG Kobe Bryant SF Devean George PF Slava Medvedenko C Shaquille O'Neal Utah Starters: PG Raul Lopez SG DeShawn Stevenson SF Matt Harpring PF Andrei Kirilenko C Greg Ostertag