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LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Perhaps it was the dizzying glare off the diamonds from their new championship rings or the glitzy pregame festivities that distracted the Los Angeles Lakers in their home opener. Karl Malone and John Stockton have never been able to capture an elusive NBA championship but the duo combined to spoil the Lakers' banner raising, leading the Utah Jazz to a 97-92 victory before a sellout crowd at the Staples Center. "We made a good comeback," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who read an inspirational poem to his team and fans prior to the contest. "I thought they played very well in the first quarter, first half actually. They had a very sharp half. They had precision and we were still standing in the winner's circle enjoying the adulation." Malone had 26 points, 11 rebounds and hit seemingly every big shot down the stretch to thwart a late rally by Los Angeles. Stockton added 21 points and 14 assists as the Jazz improved to 2-0 while raining on the Lakers' victory parade. "You can't fear anybody," Malone said. "The Lakers are a great team. They are the defending champions. But you can't fear anybody. We don't expect anything less in this locker room." The raising of the 12th championship banner in franchise history, a special song by pop recording artist Seal and the brandishing of the oversized diamond rings were just some of the pregame antics Malone and Stockton had to sit through. "This was a good opportunity to catch the Lakers," Stockton said. "They had a celebration before the game. We just went out there and played." Shaquille O'Neal collected 34 points and 15 rebounds and fellow superstar Kobe Bryant added 31 points for the Lakers, but the tandem received very little help from the rest of their teammates. Los Angeles fell to 1-1 after Tuesday's rousing season-opening win at Pacific Division-rival Portland. "Phil told us, usually on nights like this teams come out flat" Bryant said. "He should know, he's been through at least six like that. We came out flat, we fought back and didn't put our heads down. We had an opportunity to win, but we just came up short." The Lakers got all of four points from players not named O'Neal or Bryant in the first half, and the supporting cast was shooting just 3-of-25 from the floor entering the fourth quarter. "I don't like to make excuses for poor play," O'Neal said. "We didn't play good defense, we didn't move the ball like we're supposed to and we didn't take high-percentage shots." Los Angeles did not lead after O'Neal's short hook shot in the lane gave them a 6-5 advantage with 10:17 remaining in the opening period. New additon Isaiah Rider scored all 10 of his points in the fourth quarter but also was slapped with a costly technical foul with 1:31 to play after Los Angeles had shaved the deficit to 88-85. Stockton buried the free throw and Rider hit one from the line before Bryant's jumper got the Lakers within 89-88 with 1:20 to go. But Malone sank a 15-footer and Quincy Lewis hit two free throws to open a five-point cushion with 29 seconds left. Bryon Russell scored 18 points, Lewis 14 and John Starks added 10 for Utah, which made half of its 66 shots and scored 17 points off turnovers against the defending champions. Rick Fox, Horace Grant and Ron Harper joined O'Neal and Bryant in the starting lineup and managed just six points combined. O'Neal and Bryant outscored the rest of their teammates by a whopping 65-27 margin. "They're the league's dynamic duo right now," Russell said. "It's not worth trying to stop them. We played some pretty good defense. It was a nice win." The Lakers shot 43 percent (34-of-79) and held a 39-38 rebounding edge. After running out to a 24-16 lead after one quarter, the Jazz watched the advantage swell to 13 behind a 3-pointer and two free throws by Lewis. Lewis accepted a perfect feed from Stockton and hit a short jumper with 4:30 left in the first half that stretched the margin to 40-24. Stockton's jumper less than two minutes later made it a game-high 43-25 bulge. The Lakers managed to close within 65-56 entering the final 12 minutes and got it down to 86-84 on a pair of free throws by Bryant with 2:21 left. Tyronn Lue's 3-pointer with 1:45 remaining cut the deficit to three before Rider stole the ball from Malone and broke towards the Utah basket. Starks wrapped up Rider, picking up a clear path foul, but Rider reacted badly to the foul, shrugging off Starks and picking up a technical for the ill-tempered outburst. "I just prevented him from getting an easy layup," Starks said. "He just shrugged me off. I didn't think it should have been a technical, but the referee saw differently."
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