It was the Lakers' first loss this postseason.

Los Angeles leads the Western Conference semifinal series two games to one. Game 4 is tomorrow at Utah.

The win made the home teams 11-0 in the four conference semifinal series.

Deron Williams had 18 points and 12 assists for Utah, which atoned for two miserable performances in Los Angeles by taking the lead early in the second quarter and hanging on to it the rest of the way.

Kobe Bryant scored 34 points for the Lakers, who got within three points with 3 minutes, 22 seconds to play, but never caught the Jazz.

Utah improved to 4-1 in the playoffs at home, where the Jazz had the league's best mark in the regular season (37-4).

Carlisle, Mavs have deal. Rick Carlisle will be the new coach of the Dallas Mavericks, a decision expected for nearly a week but slowed by contract negotiations.

The papers are not signed yet, but team owner Mark Cuban confirmed in an e-mail to the Associated Press last night that an oral deal was in place.

The contract "will be signed [today]," with a news conference Wednesday because Cuban will be out of town until then.

Carlisle was the only candidate the Mavericks interviewed after firing coach Avery Johnson the morning after their second straight first-round playoff exit.

The oral agreement was first reported by ESPN.com.

Pistons hope Billups can go. The Pistons are aggressively treating Chauncey Billups' strained hamstring and hope he can return for Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series in Orlando today against the Magic.

But he will be a game-time decision. If he cannot play, rookie Rodney Stuckey will start in Billups' place.

Billups has more than 100 playoff games under his belt, and Stuckey is appearing in just his second series.

Nash expects D'Antoni back. Despite rampant speculation that Mike D'Antoni is headed to Chicago or New York, Phoenix point guard Steve Nash expects his coach to be back on the Suns' bench next season.

Beyond that, the two-time NBA MVP had little to say about the Suns' coaching saga during a charity appearance in Phoenix yesterday.

"This is the last thing I'm going to say about our coaching situation: Mike's my coach," Nash said. "So I expect to see Mike back here next year. And I know there's a lot of stuff going on right now, but Mike's my coach. I love playing for him. I expect to see him back in October."

D'Antoni reportedly has been courted by the Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks. The Suns granted D'Antoni permission to speak to other teams even as they expressed hope he would remain with them.

Cavs' Wallace doubtful. Cavaliers starting forward Ben Wallace is doubtful for today's Game 3 of Cleveland's playoff series against the Boston Celtics because of allergies and a left inner-ear infection.

Wallace started but played less than four minutes in Thursday's game before he became dizzy and asked to come out. He staggered to the bench and had to be assisted by his teammates before the Cavs' training staff stepped in.

The team said he could be upgraded, but it was "best case, 50-50" that Wallace would play in Game 3.