Game Blog: Spurs @ Jazz - Jan. 26

[ElNono]

Good win considering it's tough to play in that building, and you knew Utah was going to compete after the consecutive loses. For the Spurs, the offense carried them. Defensively we're still a gimmick. At this point, I don't even know what card Pop has to drop to make them interested in playing a modicum of D.

[DesignatedT]

the guy on espn just noticed that if the Spurs were playing in the east, they'd be in PO already.... wow

:lol

[DesignatedT]

Also nice to see Timmy log 30 minutes after a near disaster last game.

[awktalk]

Where the fuck are the quick game grades cry havoc!!!!111

[poop]

dwill has been a top 5 nba player for a while now imo

[crc21209]

A W is a W, nothing to be concerned about..the game was never really in doubt, that's all you can ask for..Spurs' had big leads, fell asleep..when the Spurs attacked the rim in the 4th, they scored virtually every time..they were settling, not playing with much energy..

Utah had a burst of energy and played with desperation in the 4th..

Not a big deal at all, too much over-analyzing..hopefully the Spurs can get healthy soon, need the depth back..

I think this was a pretty solid W. The Spurs were rolling up 19 in the 3rd on a Jazz team that is very, very good at home and that was desperate for a win after losing 5 games in a row. And you knew they were going to make a huge run at some point in the game, and they did. And when they did, they forced the Spurs to play in a somewhat tight game that forced the silver and black to execute, which they also did.

[Cessation]

they had some help from the refs too

[MarHill]

Good win considering it's tough to play in that building, and you knew Utah was going to compete after the consecutive loses. For the Spurs, the offense carried them. Defensively we're still a gimmick. At this point, I don't even know what card Pop has to drop to make them interested in playing a modicum of D.


D Will got hot and Jefferson had a good game as well.

Also, there are some games in a season where it's going to be an offensive game no matter what how good you play defense.

Moreover, the Spurs are not going beat people 80-75 anymore.

Enjoy the road win and move on to the next game against Houston.

[Cessation]

RJ with 14 and 5 on 6-12 shooting
lol, you mad?

[Yorae]

Laker fans here? Feeble jinx attempts?

[duncan228]

Some post-game quotes.


Spurs withstand late rally to beat Jazz 112-105 (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2011012626)

Every time Manu Ginobili lines up against the Utah Jazz, he expects a fight.

“It is never easy. They were coming from five losses in a row but they are tough players and competitors. They are rough, and they attack us and attack the rim. So we are happy we could overcome that and end up with a win,” the Spurs guard said, as he rubbed a red spot on his arm.

Ginobili scored 26 points, Tony Parker added 23, and San Antonio built an early lead and withstood a flurry of counterpunches late in the game to beat the Jazz 112-105 Wednesday night for its 10th win in 11 games.

Richard Jefferson scored 14 points, while Tim Duncan and Gary Neal each had 13 as the Spurs improved to a franchise-best, 39-7 record after 46 games. Only five teams in NBA history have had better records than the Spurs at this point in the season.

Jefferson made a 3-pointer on an assist from Parker to expand the Spurs’ lead to 86-67 late in the third quarter. Most of the Jazz starters left the court, but the Utah reserves sparked an improbable rally over the next five minutes. Seldom-used Jeremy Evans had three high-flying dunks and a free throw during a 17-4 run to bring the Jazz within 90-84 with 9:29 to play.

“Our guys played much harder than they have been. They put themselves in a position to have a chance to win. But again, you have to have a great finish,” Utah coach Jerry Sloan said.

As the crowd roared, Deron Williams scored 17 of his season-high 39 points in the fourth quarter, but Utah lost its sixth straight. Al Jefferson had 22 points and CJ Miles added 13 for the Jazz, who swept the Spurs in 2009-10 but have lost both meetings this season.

The Jazz have recorded 12 comeback victories this season, overcoming deficits of more than 15 points seven times, but the Spurs made just enough clutch plays down the stretch to quell this rally.

“We knew they were going to play with a lot of energy and give us their best shot,” Parker said.

In the end, the best shot from the Jazz just wasn’t good enough.

Ginobili took a lob pass from Tim Duncan and scored to make it 107-97 with 2:00 to play. Williams cut the lead to 109-105 on a driving layup. But he missed two long 3-point attempts in the final 15 seconds.

“These games always have a lot of contact, but we were strong enough to play through it and make some plays when we really needed them,” Ginobili said.

Utah is mired in its worst stretch of the season, and the average loss has been by 15 points. The Jazz reached the bottom against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, when they trailed by as many as 38 before falling 120-91.

It had become so bad for the Jazz, that the last time they had outscored an opponent in any one quarter was against New Jersey—four games ago. The Jazz finally broke the string by posting a 27-24 margin against the Spurs in the fourth quarter.

“We played better. We played harder. But, still, a loss tastes sour,” Williams said.

The Spurs scored the first seven points of the game and ran the Jazz ragged off screens. Parker and Ginobili continually got into the lane for floaters or easy set-ups for the Spurs’ perimeter shooters. The Spurs shot 51 percent and limited the Jazz to just one second-chance basket.

“We are better offensively this season than we were in our championship seasons. But we need to raise the defensive level to what we had then, and we will be very, very good,” Ginobili said after the Spurs allowed the Jazz to connect on 55 percent of their shots.

Playing with a sprained wrist, Williams often bulled his way to the basket in a determined effort to break the Utah skid. He had nine assists and made 16-of-19 shots from inside the arc but missed all five of his 3-point attempts.

“AK (Andrei Kirilenko) got a steal and I was going for it. I tried to move George Hill(notes) out of the way with one hand and I felt something pop,” Williams said.

The game was extraordinarily physical at times for a regular-season game. Twice in the first half, the action stopped for Raja Bell and Paul Millsap to stop the bleeding on cuts to their thumbs. Williams also went to the locker room between quarters to get his hyperextended wrist taped.

“Both teams played very physically. Always do,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. “It was a scrappy game from beginning to end. We just hung in there and luckily we had enough of a lead to win.”

Notes: The Lakers and the Spurs, Utah’s last two opponents, are the only teams that have winning regular-season records against the Jazz all-time. Ginobili and Bell were whistled for a double-technical in the fourth quarter. … After two games in a reserve role, Kirilenko scored 10 points in his return to the starting lineup, while the Spurs tipped off with the same five that have been there every contest this season.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2011012626

[duncan228]

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x282/duncan228/temp/1-26-1114.jpg

[awktalk]

winning sucks when we don't get quick grades.

[DieHardSpursFan1537]

Another big road win!

[gameFACE]

:lol @ Jazz fans throwing a bottle

It wasn't pretty. DWill is a beast. But 39-7...and that's all that matters.
I was wondering if they showed the bottle thing on TV. I ended up getting a ticket for this game and I'll tell you what, everything we hear about whiney Jazz fans is totally true. And they really hate Manu. He gets booed everytime he steps onto the court. I loved being in that sea of envy.

[TampaDude]

To steal a quote from Spursmania...

"The Spurs do not beat you so much as they grind you into tiny shards of psychological wreckage."

:D

[Dex]

Views from the Other Side:



http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/jazz/51127975-87/jazz-antonio-san-spurs.html.csp?page=2

Spurs hand Jazz their sixth straight defeat
By Steve Luhm
The Salt Lake Tribune
First published Jan 26 2011 11:20AM
Updated Jan 27, 2011 12:34AM

The Jazz lost their sixth straight game Wednesday night at EnergySolutions Arena.

Yes, they played harder, with far more determination than they have usually shown during their cursed two weeks.

Yes, they fought back from a 19-point deficit in the third quarter and were alive inside the final minute.

Yes, Deron Williams was spectacular, scoring 39 points on 16-of-24 shooting, including only three misses from inside the three-point lie.

Still, league-leading San Antonio handed Utah a 112-105 defeat, leaving coach Jerry Sloan in no mood for talk of an improved effort.

“There are no moral victories in my mind,” he said. “Basketball should be played that way all the time, not just once in awhile.”

San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili scored 26 points and Tony Parker added 23 to offset the performance by Williams, who scored 29 points in the second half despite injuring his wrist.

“That’s why he’s a great player,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. “Great players aren’t great unless they’re competitors. … He’s going to play with every fiber of his body.”

Utah’s defense was porous, however.

The Spurs shot 56 percent through three quarters and became the eighth Jazz opponent in the last 11 games to score more than 100 points.

Said Sloan: “I thought our guys played much harder than they have been. … We had some great plays to hang in there. But we let them get what they wanted on the other end. We couldn’t stop them.”

Trailing by 86-67 late in the third quarter, the Jazz got as close as four in the final minute.

But San Antonio was too good. Combined with Denver’s win at Detroit, the Jazz dropped to 27-19 for the season and into seventh place in the overall Western Conference standings.

“We played better,” said Williams. “We played harder. But still, a loss tastes sour.”

Said San Antonio’s Tim Duncan, who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds despite a sore knee, “… They’re still playing very hard. They still execute well. It’s just a bad stretch they’re going through. I think they’ll be fine.”

Early in the second quarter, the Spurs used a 14-0 run to build a 43-29 lead.

The Jazz’s second unit went 4:24 without scoring while misfiring on eight straight possessions. Gary Neal had seven of the first nine points during the run, while Ginobili added five.

“We just happened to make some shots for short period of time,” Popovich said.

When Sloan went back to his starters, the Jazz got going offensively.

Al Jefferson scored 10 in the final 5:22, including a thunderous dunk over Duncan.

Still, the Jazz couldn’t stop the Spurs, who stayed hot in the third quarter, when they made 10 of their first 14 shots and built their biggest lead.

Down by 19, the Jazz appeared dead, but on consecutive possessions, they got a three-point play by rookie Jeremy Evans, a three-point play by Miles, a three-point shot by Miles and a dunk by Evans.

San Antonio took only an 88-78 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Jazz got closer, too.

They got the deficit down to 97-91 with 5:27 left and 107-103 with 31.9 seconds remaining. But the determined effort wasn’t enough.

“That’s as hard as we’ve played in a long time,” Miles said.

Asked what the Jazz were thinking when they dropped behind San Antonio by 19, he said, “Don’t stop playing. That’s one thing we prided ourselves on at the beginning of the season and we haven’t done lately.”

The next step?

Winning a game.

“We have to forget about what’s happened and start all over tomorrow,” said Andrei Kirilenko. “Just clear it all out, keep playing and help your teammate. If there is mistake, there is a mistake. Forget about it and keep playing.”

[Sean Cagney]

Jazz are the best come back team in the league, we just had enough to withstand the storm when it came.

Last year at this time we get blown out in this game there, easiliy! We get a 19 pt lead and win by 8 or so this year though! This is the newer Spurs, I love that.