LOS ANGELES, April 8 — Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 18 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter to help the Los Angeles Lakers hold off the visiting Utah Jazz 113-109 yesterday and hurt their chances of gaining home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The Jazz trail the Portland Trail Blazers by two games for fourth place in the Western Conference with two games left for each team. Portland rallied from a seven-point deficit with four minutes left against the visiting Denver Nuggets and won 115-106 about a half hour before the Jazz game ended.
The Jazz own the tiebreaker with Portland.
JaVale McGee had 22 points and eight rebounds, Alex Caruso had 18 points and 11 assists, Mike Muscala had 16 points and eight rebounds, Johnathan Williams had 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench, and Jemerrio Jones grabbed 16 rebounds for the Lakers.
Rudy Gobert had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Jazz. Donovan Mitchell scored 19 points but missed all 10 shots in the second half, and Georges Niang scored 16 off the bench for Utah.
The Jazz took the first double-digit lead for either team at 78-68 with 4:51 left in the third quarter, but Williams scored six points in a 10-0 run that got the Lakers back even.
The Jazz took an 83-81 lead into the fourth quarter, but after Niang made two free throws, an 8-0 run moved the Lakers back ahead 89-85.
Los Angeles didn’t give up the lead the rest of the way.
Utah last had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead when it trailed 93-91 at the midway point of the fourth quarter, but the Jazz missed five straight shots and the Lakers eventually extended the lead to 97-91 with 4:19 left.
The Lakers played their fifth straight game without their top three scorers, LeBron James (groin), Kyle Kuzma (foot) and Brandon Ingram (arm surgery).
The Jazz were without Dante Exum (knee surgery), Derrick Favors (back spasms), Kyle Korver (right knee soreness), Raul Neto (ankle), and Ricky Rubio (quadriceps). — Reuters
