Utah Jazz players Trey Lyles (41) and Tibor Pleiss (21) defend a shot attempt by Los Angeles Lakers' guard Ryan Kelly. Steve Erler | Special to SL

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MANOA — The Utah Jazz outscored the Los Angeles Lakers 33-12 in the fourth quarter for a 90-71 win in both team's National Basketball Association preseason opener at the Stan Sheriff Center Sunday afternoon.

Utah trailed by as many as 13 points, 48-35 in the third quarter, but used a strong defensive effort to climb back into the game. The Jazz forced 13 total turnovers and held Los Angeles to a 20 percent shooting clip (4 for 20) in the final period of play to spoil the Lakers' first game back in Hawaii since 2007.

"I thought we settled down in the second half and made some plays defensively," said Utah coach Quin Snyder. "Our guys take pride in not getting scored on."

Tough offensive play in the paint also contributed to Utah's win. Forward Derrick Favors finished with a game-high 16 points and nine rebounds and center Rudy Gobert scored eight of his 10 points in the third quarter.

"We have some guys down there that are physical and are capable of finishing, so it puts a lot of pressure on the defense," said Snyder. "It's good to see and that's who we are. We just have to get better at doing the same things more efficiently and keep learning how to do other things."

Also scoring in double figures for the Jazz was forward Gordon Hayward (11 points, nine rebounds, four assists) and point guard Trey Burke (10 points, five rebounds, three assists).

Although the game was played on a neutral court, most of the 10,300 fans in attendance were decked out in purple and gold to support the Lakers and swingman Kobe Bryant, who was making his first appearance in a game since tearing a rotator cuff in his right shoulder in late January.

"There was a lot of energy in the building tonight," said Bryant, a 20-year veteran. "It was a lot more energetic than any other preseason game that I can remember."

Bryant finished the night with five points on 1-of-5 shooting and only played in the first quarter despite chants by the crowd in the second half.

"I thought he did pretty good and he moved well," said Los Angeles coach Byron Scott. "As we talked today, we're just gradually upping his minutes. Today was the first game he's played in a long time. It was good to get his feet wet and get him back out there."

The biggest disparity in the final box score was the total total amount of free throw attempts by both teams; Utah attempted 48 shots from the foul line while the Lakers only had 21 tries. This helped the Jazz overcome a poor shooting performance from beyond the 3-point arc (2 for 15).

"I felt like we got to the rim and we got to the foul line," said Synder. "Short of making 3-pointers, I'd like it for us to force people to have to guard that. I think eventually some of the 3-pointers will go. Usually with the first game everything's forced a little bit, but I'd like for us to still take them."

Despite the low percentage from 3-point land, the Jazz were able to take the lead for good, 62-59, on Joe Ingles' pull-up triple with 10:48 left in the fourth quarter. Ingles' trey was part of a 9-0 run to start the period.

The Jazz's backups were able to maintain the lead the rest of the way to prevent any comeback attempt by Los Angeles. Backup point guard Raul Neto spearheaded the bench effort and had game-highs in assists (six) and steals (four). 

Los Angeles reserves Lou Williams and Nick Young finished with 14 and 10 points respectively to lead the Lakers in the loss.