In that moment, the three were back to being kids who'd watched the NBA playoffs the day before and couldn't wait to get on the court with their friends. The Jazz only can hope they can sustain that excitement for two days before heading to Los Angeles.

Thanks to a thrilling 123-115 overtime victory Sunday, the Jazz evened the Western Conference semifinals against the Lakers 2-2. Before entertaining thoughts of a return to the conference finals, however, the Jazz must face two important questions.

The first concerns the condition of Kobe Bryant's back for Wednesday's

Game 5. The Lakers star battled back spasms all afternoon, lay on the floor when he was out of the game and struggled to get up when he was knocked down.

In the fourth quarter and overtime, Bryant made just 2 of 13 shots. He sat out Monday's practice in Los Angeles and said he would receive round-the-clock treatment. Not that Sloan harbored any illusions that Bryant wouldn't be ready to play.

He made reference to Michael Jordan's famous effort in Game 5 in the 1997 NBA Finals against the Jazz - "I learned a lesson a long time ago," Sloan said - when Jordan overcame a stomach virus to score 38 points in Chicago's 90-88 victory.

"We tried to tell our guys Michael Jordan was sick," Sloan said. "If [Bryant] puts his uniform on, don't worry about him being hurt. You'd better get ready to play the guy because he's a great player and he's got the ability to bury you a lot of different ways. That's what those guys can do."

Bryant played in all 82 games during the regular season and has averaged 34.8 points, 7.5 assists and 7.0 rebounds in this series. He told Los Angeles reporters his back felt tight Monday but that he would play in Game 5.

"I can't imagine it being worse than it was last night," Bryant said. "Last night it was pretty bad."

Bryant said he would benefit from the two-day break between games and that back problems were new ground for him. He also described how his back limited him in Game 4.

"I just tried to shortcut a little bit," Bryant said. "I was just basically trying to get room to shoot jump shots and not drive. A couple of times I was driving to the basket, my back just couldn't take it."

Williams claimed he didn't know Bryant was injured until after the game - he thought Bryant turned his ankle when he was fouled by Andrei Kirilenko and crumpled over in overtime - while Carlos Boozer thought Bryant looked like the same player with the ball in his hands.

"He has the same mentality," Boozer said. "That's the biggest thing about Kobe Bryant. He has the same mind-set no matter what's ailing on his body."

Kirilenko said his defensive plan was still the same, to make Bryant shoot rather then letting him drive. Having suffered from a bad back in the past, Kirilenko put Bryant's injury in some context, saying he typically would miss seven to 10 days.

"I know what it is," Kirilenko said, "and it just like stop you from any motion, you couldn't really like do anything, you couldn't reach, you couldn't like grab the ball from the floor."

The second question after Bryant's back concerns the Jazz's ability to win at Staples Center. They are 41-5 this season at EnergySolutions Arena, but without home-court advantage, the Jazz must find a way to win at least one game in Los Angeles.

That has been easier said than done. The Jazz are 3-16 all-time against the Lakers since the arena opened, including 0-4 this season, with all four losses coming by double digits.

"I think the biggest thing is that their role players play so much better at home," Williams said. "That's the reason we've got to have our bench playing well, we've got to have everybody clicking. It's got to be a total team effort for us to get a victory on the road."

The Jazz also would like to avoid falling into the same trap they did in losing Games 1 and 2 in Los Angeles. They trailed by double digits in the first half both times, and spent the rest of the game rallying before coming up short in the end.

"We haven't had two good games out there," Williams said. "They've been in both games here, so I think the pressure's on us a little bit. We've got to go out there and prove we can win there.

"I think we can. I think we have the confidence now to do that, but we've just got to come out and have a good start to the ballgame and hopefully that carries over for the rest of the game."

Briefly: Lakers forward Ronny Turiaf will not be suspended for the flagrant foul on Ronnie Price that led to his ejection in Sunday's game, an NBA spokesman said.

rsiler@sltrib.com