Jazz seek to defend better versus Lakers

The Utah Jazz were one of the best defensive teams in the NBA last season. The Jazz haven't been as stifling on the defensive end this season, and they'll face one of the hotter offensive teams in the NBA when they visit the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night at Staples Center. The Jazz tied the San Antonio Spurs for the lowest opponent scoring average in the NBA last season at 99.8 points a game, but they've fallen to 11th through 18 games this season (109.1).