http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...x.html?cnn=yes
SAN ANTONIO -- The Spurs held home-court advantage Sunday with their 108-100 opening win in the Western finals, but that result seemed of secondary importance as Gregg Popovich and Jerry Sloan fumed afterwards. They were like two old pals each claiming indignation and fury based on what they'd seen.
"They played better than we did in the second half, played better D, executed better,'' said the Spurs' Popovich. "We were just able to hang on.''
A result like this early in a series is what Popovich dreams of. His team won while being outscored 64-54 in the second half -- thus giving him just cause to preach the end of the world is nigh even though his Spurs were beating the Jazz for the 17th straight time in San Antonio dating back to 1999. He can yell like he's trailing even though he's leading.
"Defensively, on the boards, execution on offense,'' said Popovich. "We were too satisfied with the first half, I guess.''
He had the look of a wine critic waiting su iously for a bottle of Chateau d'Yquem '37 to be delivered to his table. He was like Christopher Hitchens preparing to write about Mother Teresa. He has the best team in the league, and he was going to coach them as if they were trying to avoid the lottery.
No sooner had Popovich left the podium than Sloan came in looking like somebody had backed a pickup over his dead cat.
"If you're going to be intimidated, don't show up,'' he said."At halftime I told our players, 'If you are intimidated and you don't want to go out there and compete, then stay in the locker room.'''
He clearly didn't want his young players assuming that their second half would necessarily carry over to Game 2 Tuesday.
"And I don't want to hear any more about being young,'' he said. "You either grow up and become a better player, or you take the easy route out. We will see who we are and go from there.''
How often do you hear these kinds of challenges being issued like subpoenas in this league? Sloan sounded like he was reading from one of Mike Ditka's old transcripts.
"At halftime I told them they've got to learn to compete,'' he said. "I mean, we were shaking our heads at each other. If one guy made a mistake, it was somebody else's fault.
"We were looking for excuses. That's a definite reason why you don't have a chance to win when you play that way. It takes five people out there and they all have to play together.''
The Jazz had been off since executing the Warriors five days earlier, and their inactivity bled in with their postseason inexperience to create an ugly mess. The Spurs scored 34 in the paint in the first half -- almost as many points as Utah managed from the entire court in that time. After yielding a 7-0 deficit, the Spurs inserted Manu Ginobili and then Robert Horry (the latter to a standing ovation, not only as a welcome back from his two-game absence but also for his inadvertent role in the Suns' pivotal suspensions in Round Two) and the Spurs steadily outscored their guests 54-29 over the remainder of the half. At the intermission Tim Duncan (18), Ginobili (14) and Tony Parker (10) had outnumbered Utah by six points.
It became obvious in the second half that the Spurs were tiring less than two days after their emotional six-game series with Phoenix, and that the Jazz had been applied a verbal flogging from Sloan. Deron Williams went off for a spectacular 26 over the closing two quarters, and he finished with a line of 34 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and one turnover that suggests he'll be seeing a lot more of Bruce Bowen over the games to come.
"Guys were struggling from the field a little bit so I tried to be aggressive,'' Williams said. "The first game is when you're supposed to send a message, and I don't think we did that -- especially in the first half.''
Half of Carlos Boozer's 20 points came in the fourth quarter.
"My first half (1 of 6 for four points) was terrible,'' he admitted before referring to the recent history of Utah's first round. "We were down 0-2 against Houston and we came together as a team to win the series. That's something we've already done and we can revert back to that experience for Game 2.''
It is true that Utah outrebounded the Spurs 30-14 in the second half and outshot them 53.3 percent to 44.7 percent. Altogether, however, the favorites produced five scorers in double figures, with their big three of Duncan (27), Ginobili (23) and Parker (21) leading the way as they should.
"We played good enough,'' said Duncan. "By the way.''
Pop and Sloan, 2 plain-speaking coaches who tell it like it is. Both have no time for excuses or people who make them. You just gotta respect them, unlike that guy from the Suns. If teams really take on the persona of their coaches, its no wonder the Spurs and the Jazz are where they are today.
Nice try Carlos but I don't think you can compare the Rockets team with the Spurs..
Experience against Houston is encouraging them, but ... I assume SPurs > Houston at the moment.
About that, it's mistery why TMac didn't win a serie ... is he a new aception of Dirk?
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