Greg Beacham

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Lakers issued a statement publicly backing Mike Brown on Saturday after Magic Johnson declared the first-year head coach would be fired if Los Angeles lost Game 7 of its first-round playoff series with Denver.

The club issued its statement a few hours before the third-seeded Lakers hosted the Nuggets in the series finale.

Just over a year ago, Rashad Evans and Jon Jones were friends.

LOS ANGELES — The Utah Jazz went several years between road victories over the Los Angeles Lakers until winning twice in their last three trips. Paul Millsap deflected the praise for Utah’s latest stunner onto two surprising rookies, and the Jazz gave the credit right back to the power forward who knows how to beat L.A.

Millsap scored 24 points, rookie Enes Kanter added a career-high 17 points and eight rebounds, and the Jazz handed the Lakers just their second home loss since Christmas, 103-99 on Sunday night.

Rookie Alec Burks scored 13 of his career-high 17 points in the fourth quarter for the Jazz, who snapped the Lakers’ five-game winning streak while winning three straight games of their own for the first time in two months. They even forced an awful performance from NBA scoring leader Kobe Bryant, who missed 17 of his 20 shots.

CARSON, Calif. -- Javier Morales scored the go-ahead goal in the 80th minute, Fabian Espindola added another late score, and Real Salt Lake spoiled the defending MLS champion Los Angeles Galaxy's season opener with a 3-1 victory Saturday night.

Neuheisel will be allowed to coach the Bruins (6-6, 5-4 Pac-12) in Friday's Pac-12 title game at Oregon, athletic director Dan Guerrero announced. Offensive coordinator Mike Johnson will be the Bruins' interim coach if they receive a bowl berth.

Neuheisel is 21-28 since taking over the program in December 2007, never building the momentum he needed to reach his goal of challenging Southern California for city supremacy. Guerrero fired Neuheisel two days after UCLA's 50-0 loss to No. 9 USC, the Bruins' largest loss since 1930 in their crosstown rivalry game.

"I thanked Dan for the opportunity," Neuheisel said on the Pac-12's promotional teleconference for the title game, less than an hour after his firing was announced. "I don't need reasons and all that kind of stuff. Certainly when you're the UCLA coach, you'd like to play better against USC. I know that. We had our chances, but when you lose in the fashion we did, that's a difficult pill to swallow."

A few days before Beckham plays for his first MLS title in the final days of his Galaxy contract, Garber says the league doesn't regret inviting the English superstar to become the face of MLS in 2007.

"I underestimated the power of his celebrity by a long shot," Garber said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I think we underestimated the challenge of (Beckham) playing for England, and we didn't expect his desire to go out on loan (to AC Milan). But I also totally underestimated how hardworking and tough he is. He will play through injury and fatigue. That warrior-like mentality was like nobody expected in MLS. This guy wants to win, and he'll do anything. He's been great for our league and for our game."