"We kind of looked like deer in the headlights to start off with," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "I was really kind of shocked that we would play that way, but some of our guys are young guys, and hopefully they will learn."

The loss, however, followed a familiar script for the Jazz against the Lakers. They trailed 54-41 at halftime in dropping Game 1 in last year's Western Conference semifinals to the Lakers as well as 33-18 after the first quarter of Game 2.

When they returned to Los Angeles for a Jan. 2 game against the Lakers, they fell behind 37-20 at the end of the first quarter. They lost that night 113-100, the exact same score as Sunday's series opener.

"It is kind of getting repetitive and it's something we can't have happen against a team like this," Deron Williams said. "You're not going to be able to come back from 20 down. They're just not going to let you get back in the game.

"You can make a couple runs, but we've got to do a better job of playing them even through the first half, getting through the first half, and then worry about the second half."

The Jazz will return for Tuesday's Game 2 having dropped 10 consecutive games at Staples Center to the Lakers, including all three in last year's conference semifinals. Lakers coach Phil Jackson's teams have gone 41-0 all-time when winning Game 1 of a series.

Only three No. 8 seeds ever have delivered first-round upsets, and only one -- Denver over Seattle in 1994 -- did so after losing Game 1. The Nuggets suffered a 106-82 loss to the Sonics and trailed 2-0 in the series before rallying.

But the Lakers were only slightly less dissatisfied with Game 1 than the Jazz. Jackson, who counts down victories to a championship on the locker room board, wrote in black pen: "15? Not Like That," with the Lakers giving back most of their halftime lead.

"I don't even know if we can say that we prevailed on that second-half effort, but we got the win," Jackson said. "It wasn't a coach's delight, that's for sure, but we were able to outscore them."

The Jazz, who have dropped eight of their last 10 games going back to March 31, trailed 30-19 at the end of the first quarter and 62-40 at halftime, with the Lakers having shot 65.7 percent to Utah's 35.4 percent.

Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown each hit a pair of three-pointers in the first quarter, with Kyle Korver calling the Jazz a step slow on their defensive rotations. Ronnie Brewer, meanwhile, epitomized the Jazz's shaky shooting, clanking three jumpers with a turnover.

"They're leaving us open for a reason, because we're not great shooters out there," Sloan said, "and we took some of those shots to, I guess, try to prove we could make a shot, and consequently they didn't go down for us."

The Jazz closed the first quarter with C.J. Miles having a drive blocked, Williams picking up his second foul and Sloan hit with a technical. They open the second quarter with Brevin Knight having a shot blocked and committing two turnovers as the Lakers took a 39-23 lead.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 24 points and eight assists, coming alive with nine points in the final 4:07 of the half. He drove on Brewer for a three-point play, spun away from Korver for a jumper and hit a turnaround 15-footer over Miles, shaking his head to the crowd after the shot.

He closed the half by hitting Luke Walton for a three-pointer with 23.2 seconds left and slammed the door in the fourth quarter by hitting two jumpers and dunking in the lane after the Jazz had closed within 98-89 after Andrei Kirilenko's three-pointer with 5:29 remaining.

They could have gotten even closer, but Kirilenko committed the costliest of the Jazz's 14 turnovers. After stripping Bryant, Kirilenko pushed ahead but held back from attacking the basket, instead scooping a pass over Korver's head out-of-bounds on the sideline.

Williams had 16 points and 17 assists while Carlos Boozer posted 27 points in his highest-scoring game since returning from knee surgery. It was Paul Millsap, though, who best summed up the Jazz's predicament trailing so badly at halftime.

"It's a never-ending hill," Millsap said. "At times we felt like we got a lot of good stops and played good offense and we looked up, we're still down 10, so it's tough running out of room."

rsiler@sltrib.com Storylines

In short ? The Jazz trail by 11 after the first quarter and 22 at halftime on the way to losing Game 1 to the Lakers.

Key moment ? Kobe Bryant hits Luke Walton for a three-pointer that sends the Lakers into halftime with a 62-40 lead.

Key stat ? The team that wins Game 1 has gone on to win the series 78.6 percent of the time.