Spurs at Jazz Previews

[duncan228]

The latest out of Utah.

Sloan gone, but Jazz healthy for 9-1 San Antonio
Steve Luhm
The Salt Lake Tribune

The Jazz will be without coach Jerry Sloan but will likely have everybody else available Friday night, when they challenge the San Antonio Spurs at EnergySolutions Arena.

C.J. Miles (back), Paul Millsap (illness) and Al Jefferson (back) are listed as probable as Utah tries for its seventh win in the last eight games.

It won’t be easy against the veteran Spurs, who are 9-1 overall and 3-0 in the only games they’ve played that have been decided by less than nine points.

As always, San Antonio is led by Manu Ginobili (21.2), Tony Parker (18.6) and Tim Duncan (13.7).

The Spurs, who come off a 103-94 win over Chicago on Wednesday, are shooting 44.2 percent on three-pointers. Matt Bonner is 10-for-12 this season.

Veteran Jazz assistant Phil Johnson will take over for Sloan against the Spurs.

Sloan will miss tonight and Saturday’s game at Portland so he can attend the funeral of a family member.

Asked if there is a difference in the Jazz when Sloan coaches or when he’s in charge, Johnson said, “Not much. I have done it quite a bit.…I’m not going to change anything. He’s given me a lot of leeway and delegated a lot of authority over the years, so it won’t be that big of a change.”

Said Jazz point guard Deron Williams: “…They are similar but different. They have the same philosophies, the same principles. They’ve been together so long, it’s pretty much like you don’t miss anything. Phil’s a head coach, anyway. We know that.”

During a game, one of Johnson’s tasks is to jump between Sloan and an official — to try and prevent technical fouls.

Asked who will inherit the job of restraining him, Johnson smiled and said, “Money.”

[duncan228]

Spurs ready for jazzy battle, and other notes from shootaround
by Jeff McDonald

...Yet, despite those changes, the Spurs seem to know what to expect when the game tips off. Same old Jazz.

“It’s always a tough battle,” Spurs captain Tim Duncan said after this morning’s shootaround. “I don’t care if one team is playing well and one team is playing badly, it always ends up being a battle. It’s always going to be very physical. We know we’re in for a game every time we step into this building.”

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...m-shootaround/

[Spurs Brazil]

JMcDonald_SAEN
Matt Bonner says he feels "good enough" to play tonight. Watching him bend over to pick up bags,looking like my grandpa, has me skeptical.

[crc21209]

Boozer destroyed the Spurs last season. Bonner had a uva game against the Jazz last season tbh. I wanted him to take the game-winning shot too.

Boozer and Okur always kill the Spurs....thankfully, Boozer is in Chicago and Okur is hurt.

[crc21209]

I think we'll win. All the losses to Utah last year were close. Also there's no more Boozer, Korver, Brewer, and Matthews. And I guess Sloan is out too tonight.

+1. All those guys absolutely killed us last year. Replace those guys with Al Jefferson and Gordon Hayward and I'm not so scared...

[crc21209]

JMcDonald_SAEN
Matt Bonner says he feels "good enough" to play tonight. Watching him bend over to pick up bags,looking like my grandpa, has me skeptical.

This is not good news. The Jazz are always one of the better defensive teams at clogging the paint and Bonner would really help in stretching the floor tonight...

[duncan228]

Plenty of subplots for Spurs against Jazz
By Mike Piellucci
FOXSportsSouthwest.com

On a night with two marquee inter-conference matchups in the Southwest region (Thunder-Celtics and Mavericks-Bulls), a battle between two division leaders in the West could steal the show.

Here’s why San Antonio’s road tilt at Utah could be the marquee game of the night.

Duncan’s Climb to the Top

If you’re a Spurs fan, you’ve probably already heard by now; Tim Dunan is just a baker’s dozen shy from breaking David Robinson’s all-time Spurs points record and climbing into 31st place overall in NBA history.

When asked if his old teammate would celebrate his record falling, Duncan joked that he wasn’t so sure.

“If we’re at home, I’m sure David will try to come out of the stands and block my shot,” Duncan cracked to My San Antonio.com’s Jeff McDonald.

Duncan is averaging 13.7 points per game for the season, so while it seems likely he’ll break the mark tonight, the numbers suggest it is far from a certainty.

Of course, some Spurs fans still believe he still has a ways to go to truly break the mark. George Gervin’s combined NBA/ABA scoring mark of 23,602 points is nearly 3,000 more than Robinson’s current record of 20,790, and a few loyalists regard The Iceman’s career total as the Spurs benchmark.

Duncan, for his part, wouldn’t be against Gervin’s ABA numbers counting as part of the record.

“It’s not something I think about, but sure, why not?” Duncan said.

“He could score, that’s for sure.”

Duncan also is approaching another NBA milestone, this time on the glass. The hulking power forward sits just 30 rebounds behind Elgin Baylor for 24th all-time.

Extending the Streak

After losing their second game of the season to New Orleans and dropping to 1-1, the Spurs have not lost since. Defeating the Jazz would make it nine in a row for San Antonio, and improving to 10-1 give them the franchise’s best-ever start to a season.

"We talked about it all preseason. In training camp, in preseason - that we wanted to have a good start and not have the same mistakes as last year," Tony Parker said after Tuesday’s win over Chicago.

It won’t come easy against Utah, who swept the Spurs 4-0 in last season’s meetings. Of course, as Parker pointed out to McDonald, that figure helps create added motivation.

“We lost four times against them, so of course I remember,” Parker said. “We’ve got to get a little revenge against them.”

Early Season Measuring Stick

As the NBA season approaches its one-month mark, the Spurs are one of many teams in the ever-compe ive Western Conference who are looking to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. Getting a chance to tangle with another division leader is a great way to help distinguish just how good they are.

In addition to heading up the Northwest division, the Jazz have something else that makes them especially dangerous: poise in the fourth quarter. After losing three of their first four games to open the season, Utah set an NBA record by rallying from double-digit deficits to win five consecutive games.

Suffice it to say, the Spurs have taken notice.

“It’s just another testament to a team that, over the years, has been the most mentally tough in the league,” Gregg Popovich said.

The Jazz will be without coach Jerry Sloan for tonight’s meeting as the venerable coach will be attending the funeral of a family member. While that figures to be an advantage for San Antonio, the Spurs insist that the biggest edge the hold heading into tonight lies within themselves.

“We lost all four last season, but we played them very early,” Manu Ginobili said. “We were not the same team we ended up being in February, March and April.”