Spurs At Jazz Previews

[duncan228]

San Antonio (29-14) at Utah (25-20) Preview (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview?gid=2009012726&prov=ap)
Game info: 9:00 pm EST Tue Jan 27, 2009
TV: FSSW, KJZZ
By Anthony Giornalista

A home game against one of the league’s top teams didn’t help the struggling Utah Jazz over the weekend.

Maybe this one could.

The Jazz, in danger of losing four straight for the first time this season, look to hand the San Antonio Spurs their fifth consecutive regular season loss in Salt Lake City on Tuesday night.

Utah (25-20) has lost three in a row for the second time this season, matching its skid from Nov. 12-15. A loss to the Spurs (29-14) would give the Jazz four straight defeats for the first time since a six-game slide in December 2007.

Even when struggling, Utah can usually count on a boost at EnergySolutions Arena. The Jazz have one of the NBA’s best home records this season at 17-5 after going a league-best 37-4 in 2007-08.

Utah has played one of its last three at home, but lost that contest 102-97 to Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland on Saturday night for its first defeat in eight games at EnergySolutions Arena.

Two of Utah’s wins there last season were against the Spurs, who have lost four straight regular season games in Salt Lake City since a 95-86 win on April 4, 2006. Utah has held San Antonio to 80.8 points per game during that stretch, and it can certainly use another strong effort on defense against a Spurs team which owns the second-best record in the West.

The Jazz have struggled to stop the opposition offensively during their skid, giving up 109.0 points a contest. They’re coming off one of their worst defensive games of the season, losing 117-97 to Denver on Sunday night.

“There wasn’t much defensive effort,” Utah point guard Deron Williams said after his team forced 12 turnovers—three off a season low.

The Jazz have been hurt by injuries, missing star forward Carlos Boozer most of the season. He’s not expected back from knee surgery for a couple more weeks.

Fellow forward Andrei Kirilenko has missed three straight games with an ankle injury, and his status remains uncertain.

If Utah hopes to avoid slipping further in the West playoff race, it’s going to need big men such as Mehmet Okur to step up their play. The veteran center is scoring 17.1 points per game, but has averaged 8.0 while shooting 20.6 percent (7-for-34) during the Jazz’s losing streak.

He’ll likely spend much of this contest matched up with Spurs All-Star Tim Duncan, who had 18 points and seven rebounds in a 119-94 win over the Jazz on Nov. 21 in the teams’ only meeting of the season. It was lesser-known players Roger Mason and George Hill who carried San Antonio in that game with 29 and 23 points, respectively.

Mason and Hill, though, combined for nine points on 1-of-11 shooting in a 99-85 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.

Tony Parker scored 19 points and Duncan added 15, but both stars sat out the fourth quarter with the Spurs down 79-66 after the third.

“I thought the effort was OK, defensively,” Duncan said. “But we had a couple of lapses that turned right into points.”

San Antonio lost for the fourth time in 18 games in the opener of a stretch during which it plays 11 of 12 on the road. The Spurs are 12-7 away from the AT&T Center.

Notes

Spurs:

The Spurs trailed the entire fourth quarter in Sunday's loss to the Lakers. As the lead rapidly grew, coach Gregg Popovich decided to rest his starters. "It's a long season," he said. "We weren't going to win at that point." ... The Spurs matched their largest lead of two points just over a minute into the second quarter at 26-24, but they didn't go ahead the rest of the way. ... San Antonio registered 14 steals, including four from reserve F Ime Udoka. ... Sunday's game kicked off a tough stretch of road games for the team. Including the Lakers' game, they will have played 12 of the next 13 contests away from home.

Jazz:

Utah fell to 1-10 in the second game of back-to-back games this season. ... F Paul Millsap, C Mehmet Okur and G Deron Williams each recorded double-doubles for Utah. ... The Jazz have lost three straight games, all while scoring less than 100 points. Utah is 8-15 when scoring less than.

Team Stat Leaders

Points

Tim Duncan SA 20.5
Carlos Boozer Uta 20.5

Rebounds

Tim Duncan SA 10.3
Carlos Boozer Uta 11.7

Assists

Tony Parker SA 6.6
Deron Williams Uta 10.1

Team Comparison
Team Record Standings PF PA Road/Home Streak L10

San Antonio 29-14 1st Southwest / 2nd West 96.6 93.7 Road 12-7 Lost 1 7-3

Utah 25-20 3rd Northwest / 9th West 101.7 99.5 Home 17-5 Lost 3 5-5

[benefactor]

I hope we completely own them...mostly because I want it rubbed in Hollinger's face.

[Chris]

Jazz might miss the playoffs :wow

[duncan228]

Tuesday: Spurs (29-14) at Jazz (25-20) (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Tuesday_Spurs_29-14_at_Jazz_25-20.html)

Time: 8 p.m.
TV: FSNSW
Radio: WOAI-AM 1200, KCOR-AM 1350

STARTING LINEUPS
POS - SPURS - JAZZ

PG - 9 Tony Parker (6-2, 8th yr) - 8 Deron Williams (6-3, 4th yr)
Parker has made only 23 of 59 shots, 39 percent, in last four games.

SG - 8 Roger Mason Jr. (6-5, 5th yr) - 9 Ronnie Brewer (6-7, 3rd yr)
Mason scored 29 points, his season high, in first meeting with Jazz on Nov. 21.

SF - 4 Michael Finley (6-7, 14th yr) - 34 C.J. Miles (6-6, 4th yr)
Brewer shooting 40 percent from 3-point line in last 25 games.

PF - 21 Tim Duncan (6-11, 12th yr) - 24 Paul Millsap (6-8, 3rd yr)
Millsap has grabbed 85 offensive rebounds in last 16 games.

C - 15 Matt Bonner (6-10, 5th yr) - 13 Mehmet Okur (6-11, 7th yr)
Bonner has made only one of last 10 3-point attempts over three games.

SPURS RESERVES

20 Manu Ginobili, G, 6-6, 7th yr
3 George Hill, G, 6-2, 1st yr
12 Bruce Bowen, G, 6-7, 13th yr
5 Ime Udoka, G/F, 6-5, 5th yr
40 Kurt Thomas, C/F, 6-9, 14th yr
7 Fabricio Oberto, C-F, 6-10, 4th yr
11 Jacque Vaughn, G, 6-1, 12th yr

JAZZ RESERVES

22 Morris Almond, G, 6-6, 2nd yr
44 Kyrylo Fesenko, C, 7-1, 2nd yr
15 Matt Harpring, F, 6-7, 11th yr
47 Andrei Kirilenko, F, 6-9, 8th yr
41 Kosta Koufos, C, 7-0, 1st yr
26 Kyle Korver, G/F, 6-7, 6th yr
31 Jarron Collins, C, 6-11, 8th yr
2 Brevin Knight, G, 5-10, 12th yr
17 Ronnie Price, G, 6-2, 4th yr

COACHES

Spurs: Gregg Popovich
Jazz: Jerry Sloan

INJURIES

Spurs: Ian Mahinmi (left ankle sprain) is out.

Jazz: Carlos Boozer (left knee surgery) is out; Andrei Kirilenko (inflamed right ankle) is questionable.

PROJECTED INACTIVE PLAYERS

Spurs: Mahinmi, Malik Hairston

Jazz: Boozer, Kirilenko, Morris Almond

NOTABLE

Sloan and Popovich rank Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, on the list of NBA's most tenured coaches. ... Sloan is the only coach in NBA history to win at least 1,000 games with one team. ... The Jazz already have lost 121 player-games to injury this season, 53 of those by Boozer, Williams and Kirilenko.

— Mike Monroe

[duncan228]

Jazz vs. San Antonio (http://www.sltrib.com/jazz/ci_11560815)
At EnergySolutions Arena

Records » Jazz 25-20, San Antonio 29-14

Last meeting » Spurs, 119-94 (Nov. 21)

Line » Jazz by 2½

About the Jazz » They were buried by 15 San Antonio three-pointers when the teams played in November. With Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili both out injured, Roger Mason and rookie George Hill picked up the slack by combining to score 52 points. Mason connected on 7 of 10 three-pointers. The Jazz were missing Deron Williams, out with a sprained ankle, that night.

About the Spurs » San Antonio is in the midst of a murderous stretch in which it will play 12 of 13 games on the road. The Spurs opened that stretch with a 99-85 loss Sunday to the Lakers, a game in which they fell behind by 14 early in the second half. … San Antonio still has won 20 of its last 26 games. … Watch out late for Mason, who has hit three game-winning shots this season.

[duncan228]

Utah Jazz: Change in order? (http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705280540,00.html?pg=1)
By Tim Buckley
Deseret News

Jerry Sloan is ready for change.

Whether or not he makes one tonight, however, is as uncertain as the prospect of a spiraling economy suddenly reversing course.

That's because the impetus behind Sloan's temptation to twist — rooted not in plummeting market numbers, but instead a rapidly declining win-loss record — is compromised by a dearth of appealing alternatives.

In any event, though, Sloan senses something, anything, different needs to be done.

Heading into tonight's home game against Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and the always-tough-to-beat San Antonio Spurs, the 25-20 Jazz have lost three straight games and five of their last seven overall.

An early season theme of occasional slow starts has become virtual commonplace lately, prompting Sloan to respond accordingly when asked after Sunday night's loss at Denver if he'd considering removing shooting guard C.J. Miles from the starting lineup:

"The first and start of the third quarters — we're not getting anything," the Jazz coach said. "It's not totally (Miles') fault.

But we probably have to take a look at changing something, because we're not getting very much efficiency out of anything we do.

Story continues below

"You know, you try to be patient. But sometimes you've got to step up. If you're gonna play, and you want to play in the league, you've got to be able to jump out there and get after people. You can't let people bring it to you all the time. Young guys have a tendency to not realize that. They think, 'Give me some shots, and worry about the other stuff later.'

"But," Sloan added, "you're down 10 points if you're not gonna guard anybody, and it's a tough hole to fight out of — especially on the road. Sometimes you'll get by with it at home, but we're struggling a little bit, and everybody's got to carry their own as much as possible."

Established Jazz players queried about the notion of potential need for a starting-lineup switch did not exactly object.

"Something," point guard Deron Williams said. "I mean, something's wrong with the first group, obviously. We can't come out with a lot of energy game after game. We do at home most of the time, because we're at home. But even lately we haven't had the same energy at home."

"That's (Sloan's) call," veteran reserve forward Matt Harpring added. "Whoever's out there, starting or not starting, or coming off the bench, you've got a job to do. Just come in and play hard. Effort is just something you've got to have."

But so are alternatives if a change of some sort is to be made and Sloan — who sat Miles early in the both the first and third quarters of Sunday's loss to the Nuggets — admittedly has few of those.

He could return sixth man Andrei Kirilenko to the starting lineup, but Kirilenko faces the possibility of in-season surgery after missing three straight games due to bone irritation in his right foot.

He could start Kyle Korver at shooting guard or insert Harpring at small forward and slide Ronnie Brewer from the 3 spot to the 2, but he seems to prefer the two veterans coming off the bench.

He could even open with Brewer at shooting guard and usual power forward Paul Millsap at small forward — but not until All-Star Carlos Boozer returns from arthroscopic knee surgery, which is not expected to happen until sometime mid-month in February at the earliest.

"I don't have a lot of options," he said.

Nor does he have much ammunition against the assertion that as injuries continue to mount for the Jazz, playoff prospects take the hit.

When the Jazz are missing just one of their top five players this season — from among Williams, Boozer, Kirilenko, Millsap and center Mehmet Okur — they're 18-9 this season.

But when they're without two or more of the five, they're just 7-11.

"I can't do anything about the fact we've had guys hurt, and we're obviously not as good a team as we think we would be if we had everybody healthy," Sloan, whose club did not practice Monday amid three games in four nights, said Sunday. "But we still have to try to do the best we can to try to win, wherever you are and whatever the circumstances."

[duncan228]

Utah Jazz game day (http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705280496,00.html)
UTAH JAZZ (25-20) vs. SAN ANTONIO SPURS (29-14)

ENERGYSOLUTIONS ARENA

Season series: Spurs lead series, 1-0

This is the third game in a stretch with three in four nights for the Jazz, who after losing Sunday at Denver have dropped three straight and five of their last seven. ... San Antonio's four-game winning streak ended with its 99-85 road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. ... Ex-Jazz guard Jacque Vaughn has appeared in just 17 games for the Spurs this season. ... Utah has lost four of its last six against San Antonio, including a 119-94 November defeat in which Roger Mason Jr.'s game-high 29 points included seven 3-pointers.

[Shirley05701]

I agree that Jazz might miss the playsoff

[ManuTP9]

lets get this win!:flag:

[wawa]

In China, it was the first day of our lunar new year yestoday~
The first game, we lost..
But tomorrow, I believe we'll take it...
Chinese spursfans get great confidence..
Go Spurs Go~~

[shelshor]

Referee Assignments
Tue. Jan. 27
San Antonio @ Utah: D. Crawford, J. Phillips, L. Richardson

[duncan228]

Tough Road (http://sportsnetwork.com/)
The Spurs have lost four straight meetings with the Jazz in Salt Lake City.

(Sports Network) - The San Antonio Spurs resume a tough, three-game road trip Tuesday in Salt Lake City when they face the Utah Jazz at EnergySoulutions Arena.

The Spurs lost the opener of the trek Sunday in Los Angeles when Kobe Bryant led five Lakers players in double figures with 22 points, as LA downed San Antonio, 99-85, in a matchup of two of the Western Conference's top teams.

Tony Parker had 19 points and six assists for the Southwest Division-leading Spurs, who had a four-game win streak snapped, while Tim Duncan added 15 points and eight boards.

San Antonio, which is now 12-7 on the road, will conclude its swing in Phoenix on January 29.

The Jazz, meanwhile, dropped their third straight game in Denver on Sunday when Nene matched a career-high with 28 points, hitting all 12 of his attempts from the field and leading the Nuggets to an emphatic 117-97 drubbing of Utah.

Nene also had nine rebounds and his 12-for-12 effort from the floor tied Bobby Jones' franchise mark set in 1978 for most attempts made without a miss.

Deron Williams contributed 15 points and 10 assists for the Jazz, who have dropped five of seven overall. Ronnie Brewer paced Utah with 16 points, while Mehmet Okur and Paul Millsap each checked in with 12 points and 10 boards.

The banged-up Jazz, who have not lost four in a row all season, continue to play without Carlos Boozer. The All-Star power forward is not expected back from knee surgery for at least a couple more weeks. In other injury news, fellow forward Andrei Kirilenko will likely miss his fourth straight game tonight with right ankle inflammation.

The Jazz, who are a solid 17-5 on their home floor, will finish a quick two- game homestand on January 30 against Oklahoma City.

Home cooking has dominated this series recently with the host winning 10 straight and 14 of the last 16 meetings between the two clubs, including a 119-94 Spurs rout in the Alamo City on November 21. San Antonio has lost four straight in Salt Lake City, however.

[Blake]

Spurs have no reason not to win this game by 20