SPORTS: Can jazz steal one in L.A.?

LOS ANGLES -- It's come down to this for the Utah Jazz: Stealing.

Not in a criminal sense, of course; but in a best-of-seven, basketball series sense of the word.

If they are to win their Western Conference playoff series with the Los Angeles Lakers, the Jazz really do need to pick-pocket a game here, where the Lakers have homecourt advantage.

"We've got to steal a game in L.A., that's the key," Utah forward Carlos Boozer said. "If we can steal the game on Wednesday, we'll have a chance to close it out here."

Simple, but true.

Now that the series is knotted at two games apiece, it boils down to which team can win two of the next three.

"We made the series 2-2," Jazzman Andrei Kirilenko said. "Now we've kind of started over."

Game 5 will be played tonight at Staples Center, while Game 6 is scheduled for Friday at EnergySolutions Arena.

If necessary, Game 7 will be played back at Staples on Monday night.

"We've got to win one there eventually," Jazz point guard Deron Williams said. "Why not make it this next one?"

Of course saying it and doing it are two different things.

L.A. won Games 1 and 2, and did so by firing out quickly, igniting the home crowd and knocking the Jazz back on their heels in the first half.

Each time, Utah rallied to make a game of it in the fourth quarter, but by then the damage had been done.

If they have any chance of stealing tonight's game, the Jazz will need to be sharp at the start, then they'll need to weather three or four more Laker rallies throughout the night.

"We've got to focus on coming out and having a good start," Williams said. "We know they're going to try to blow us away early, use the momentum of their crowd and just their confidence at home to blow us away early. We've got to be able to overcome that."

In Game 4 on Sunday, Lakers' star Kobe Bryant came down awkwardly from a first-quarter jump shot and injured his lower back.

Although he continued to play and wound up scoring 33 points on 13-for-33 shooting, Bryant was seen lying down near the L.A. bench and reportedly received treatment in the locker room during halftime.

He appeared at the Lakers' practice facility on Monday wearing an electronic stimulator on his back.

Several Jazz players said they were unaware of Bryant's back injury during Sunday's game.

"I saw (him on the floor struggling to get up) but when he had the ball in his hands it didn't seem like he had too much back pain at that point in time," Boozer said.

And as far as Bryant being able to play in tonights' game, Utah players said they're confident he'll be on the court, ready to go.

"I don't know how his back feels," Williams said. "I'm sure he's going to play, I didn't even know he was hurt last game. I think Kobe's going to be Kobe. I don't think we're worried (about his back), we're just worried about winning the game."

Combining both the regular and postsesaon, the Jazz have lost five consecutive road games to the Lakers.

Their last road victory occurred Jan. 1, 2006.

When asked if the Jazz can win at Staples Center -- where they are just 3-12 all-time against the Lakers -- Kirilenko was both curt and confident.

"Why not?" he asked. "I mean, we've done it in the past. We can do it, it's just a matter of our focus and how good we can stay with our gameplan."