Utah Jazz fade away as Lakers send message to 1st-round playoff foe News Utah Jazz

LOS ANGELES ? Dates still are to be announced, and will be sometime late tonight. But the Jazz do have a dance partner for the first-round of the 2008-09 NBA playoffs, and it's arguably as depressing as taking sis to the prom. They will open this weekend, either Saturday or Sunday, against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers ?

the very team that beat Utah 125-112 Tuesday night at the Staples Center in the regular-season finale for both. It was the ninth straight Laker victory over the Jazz in L.A., including all three visits in the second round of last season's playoffs. The loss dropped Utah, which will finish eighth in the Western Conference and third in the Northwest Division at 48-34, into a potential death-penalty matchup against the West's top-seeded and 65-17 Lakers. "We didn't give much of a battle," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "And knowing we're going to have to play them again, it looks pretty bleak. "I hate to say that, you know, but it's one of those things. But Basketball ? that's why it's an interesting game. We're gonna have to play it." To avoid such a best-of-seven series, Utah ? which closed by the season by dropping seven of its final nine games ? needed to win Tuesday and get help tonight from Houston in Dallas and/or San Antonio against New Orleans. Instead, after hanging for a half despite being without injured starters Mehmet Okur (strained hamstring) and C.J. Miles (dislocated finger), the Jazz allowed the Lakers to slowly but surely pull away. "We didn't have a lot of people out there ? when they were out there," Sloan said. L.A., locked before the game into the NBA's second-best record this season, got limited minutes (just 10) from Bryant in the opening half. Utah did lead 27-25 after a first quarter in which point guard Deron Williams scored nine of his game-high 25 points. But by the break ? despite a 10-point second quarter by reserve forward Andrei Kirilenko ? the Lakers were up one at 56-55. Williams scored another 12 and shot 5-for-9 from the field in the third, and after a Carlos Boozer-fed Williams layup Utah actually was tied with L.A. at 68 with five minutes and 42 seconds left in the quarter. The Lakers, though, used a 35-point period that included nine from Bryant to head into the fourth up 91-83, and after a Jordan Farmar 3-pointer they led by double digits for the final 11:46. Just more than five minutes after Farmar's trey, the Lakers led 110-90. "They got hot," Williams said. "I did a double-take myself. I looked up, and thought it was a 10-point game, and it was 20. "They can score points in a hurry." It was yet another disappointing road performance amid many for the Jazz, who finished the season with a 15-26 record away from home and 3-18 in the back half of back-to-back sets. Utah also ended up 3-18 on the road against the NBA's other 15 playoffs teams this season, including 1-12 against those from the West ? with their lone victory coming earlier this month at New Orleans. "It's going to be a tough series," Williams said. "There's no way around it. This is the best team in the West. But we feel like we can beat them. We've just got to steal one in here. "You know, we haven't been a good road team. But that's what we've got to do." NOTES: Williams also dished a game-high 13 assists to finish the season with a team-high 43 double-doubles. ... ESPN.com on Tuesday cited unnamed "sources" as indicating that Boozer, who will eligible after the season to opt out of his current contract, and Toronto's Chris Bosh "are among the veterans Golden State will be tracking should either become available via trade" this offseason. ... The Jazz wound up 6-4 on major national cable TV, including 4-2 and 2-2 on ESPN. ... Multiple members of the Jazz's front office made the trip to L.A. for Tuesday's game, including family ownership head Greg Miller, team president Randy Rigby and general manager Kevin O'Connor. E-MAIL: tbuckley@desnews.com-