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The Jazz are going to be all right.

After an offseason of acquisition from the inside out and praise from the outside in, and after a season-opening loss on the road at Portland, the Jazz unveiled themselves to a home crowd full of elevated expectations against the Lakers at Vivint Arena on Friday night.

The result was somewhat pleasing … to the house and to the Jazz themselves, mostly because it was a victory. A season's worth of work remains.

"We were fortunate to come away with a win," Quin Snyder said. And he was right.

Not only did the Jazz go ahead and beat the Lakers 96-89, they also were rejoined by the previously injured Derrick Favors, one of their more important players in a broad new mix that's prompted so much good feeling around here. When Gordon Hayward returns from his broken finger and Alec Burks from his ailment, the Jazz will be whole again, a rare occurrence stemming back to before last season.

In the meantime, their challenge is to combine the new pieces and not fall to pieces in the absence of Hayward, their best all-around player. The majority of their games during his recovery are on the road, making for a tough go.

That's one of the reasons the game against the under-talented Lakers was important — to take advantage of one of the Jazz's few early favorable circumstances.

After fiddle-faddling around over the first three quarters, and deep into the fourth, they finished fine, showing bits of the promise and positivity that was evidenced over stretches against the Blazers on Tuesday night — until Damian Lillard spoiled that effort. There were discombobulated moments, spans of disjointed defense and periods of inaccurate shots. At times, the Jazz really missed Hayward.

They ended up with 14 assists and 14 turnovers. Other difficulties included those missed open shots (41-percent shooting, 24-percent from 3).

But after falling behind in the fourth, the Jazz properly handled their business down the stretch, going on an 11-0 run, tightening a grip on the Lakers at the defensive end and smoothing their own ride at the other, finding enough range.

Favors arrival was helpful for the Jazz, although five of the turnovers were his. At times, he was bumped around and got frustrated. But he came off the bench to score 15 points, grab nine boards and play some stiff defense. "He wanted the ball," Rodney Hood said.

Even bigger was George Hill, who scored 23 points, D'd up, and calmed the team as he directed the action. His presence will make a sizable difference for this team this season.

Yeah, the Jazz are going to bump and skid now and again, but also will have their fun this season, winning games they could not have won a year ago with a weapon they previously lacked — versatility. Against the Lakers, at varying times, they went inside, they went outside, they attacked the rim, they bombed away, they posted up, they ran, they went deliberate. And they used unusual combinations. With four minutes left, Snyder had Hill, Shelvin Mack, Rudy Gobert, Joe Johnson and Dante Exum on the floor. The defense dialed up at the end.

"Everything keys off of that," said Snyder, who — more than anyone else in and around the Jazz, even with or especially because of the early injuries — is thrilled with his newfound options.

It's going to take some time to shape this team into what it can be. Players still haven't nailed down their roles — in a process that is exacerbated by roles that are certain to change from game to game, night to night, possession to possession, situation to situation. This is a distant cry from the fully formed old John Stockton-Karl Malone-Jeff Hornacek days, when players knew what to do, when to do it — to the point where they were aware of the precise moments on the clock when they would exit and enter games.

That was then, this is now.

Asked whether he would prefer to set the tone with his own plan for his players and force opponents to react to it or, rather, react to opponents' plans with advantageous matchups, Snyder answered with a definitive … it depends.

On Friday night, though imperfect, the Jazz did enough of what Snyder wanted to win.

And two games in, nobody could ask for much more.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on the Zone Sports Network, 97.5 FM and 1280 AM. Twitter: @GordonMonson.