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Kiss our butts Jazz
http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2012...ecimation-jazz
SAN ANTONIO -- Two games into the playoffs, not much has changed down here in South Texas. The San Antonio Spurs are still winning games with ease, still getting plenty of rest for their old reliables along the way, still barely out of regular-season gear.
Two games into the most lopsided series going, with the s -shocked Utah Jazz seemingly incapable of making the Spurs shift into something more strenuous, one-liners from West's No. 1 seeds have provided more entertainment than the actual basketball.
Example? When it was suggested to Stephen Jackson that he's an NBA Coach of the Year good-luck charm for Gregg Popovich, since he was on the roster both times Popovich won the award (2003 and this week), Jackson said with a broad smile, clearly proud of the line: "I told Pop that. If you can coach me, you win automatically."
Another example: Any of the dozens of cracks circulating in the Twitterverse on Wednesday night, after the Spurs dialed up some vintage team D to twin with its increasingly diverse offense, wondering aloud about whether Popovich would even bother to make Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili travel for Saturday's Game 3 in Salt Lake City after this 114-83 spanking.
Rest assured that Duncan, Ginobili and Parker will be there, because this really is the postseason, in spite of the all the evidence to the contrary in Game 2 at the AT&T Center. Yet it's already clear, even at a mere 2-0 in this first-round series, that Pop's biggest challenges from here will be guarding against a Memphis-style letdown and making sure his stars don't lose some conditioning after what amounts to a virtual night off.
If the Spurs stay plugged in? Utah can't keep up. At either end.
The closest thing to a moment of concern for the Spurs unfolded in the third quarter, with the lead already into the 30s, when the TNT microphones caught Parker begging Popovich to let him stay in through the end of the period in what the Frenchman later described as a plea "to keep playing to stay in shape." Pop -- shocker -- ultimately won that argument and had the distinct pleasure of swiftly shifting the focus away from the Coach of the Year trophy he reluctantly accepted in a pregame ceremony with Duncan and Spurs legend David Robinson and onto the juggernaut that cruised to a seemingly iron-clad series lead without playing Parker or Duncan more than 28 minutes ... and with Ginobili required for just 19 minutes.
The peerless ball movement and total trust the Spurs are known for put the unheralded twosome of free-agent fairy tale Danny Green and rookie Kawhi Leonard in position to sink three 3-pointers each and finish with 18 and 17 points, respectively. (That's the same Green, incidentally, of whom Popovich admitted earlier this week "we weren't even sure he'd make our team.") Throw in all the damage Parker did inside, either scoring or distributing in ringing up 18 points and nine assists despite the short shift, and it's little wonder San Antonio has a ridiculous points-in-the-paint advantage of 120-80 for the series in what was supposed to be Utah's No. 1 strength.
That said ...
The demoralizing effect of San Antonio's throwback defensive effort was even more significant. The Spurs remain vulnerable to the sort of size possessed by the Grizzlies and Los Angeles Lakers, especially when they go to their bench, but they've used an array of coverages to completely flummox Jazz center Al Jefferson, who's universally regarded as one of the league's finest low-post scorers.
Jefferson managed just 10 points and four rebounds in a nightmarish 30 minutes, after a meaningless 16 points and nine rebounds in Game 1, with the added downer of knowing that San Antonio reeled off a game-changing 20 straight points in the second quarter after Jazz coach Ty Corbin put him in for Derrick Favors. He admitted at his locker late Wednesday that the Spurs' fast-changing looks have him overthinking things.
"Embarrassing," Jefferson said, presumably not even aware that Utah's 28 points at halftime (on 23.4 percent shooting) accounted for the worst playoff half in franchise history apart from the 96-54 disaster against Chicago in Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals.
Good luck, furthermore, convincing Big Al that Team Duncan is an offense-first outfit these days and can't lock up opponents like it used to.
"They're the San Antonio Spurs," Jefferson said. "Regardless of how many points they score, they're still known for their defense."
The Jazz are the worst road team in the playoffs (11-24 counting these two losses) and simply don't have the perimeter shooters needed to loosen things up for their go-to guy, so Jefferson -- to make this a series -- is going to have to find a different way to get going on the block to counter the vigor with which San Antonio is attacking him at the other end. The Jazz also knew going in that the Devin Harris whose speed and defensive determination so bothered Parker in 2006 when Dallas won a Game 7 in San Antonio was a different guy compared to the Devin Harris we see in 2012, but they undoubtedly expected more from Big Al, given how reliable he was in leading Utah's April rush to claim the West's No. 8 seed.
And how hungry Jefferson looked when it sank in that he'd be headed to the playoffs for the first time since his rookie season in 2004-05.
Corbin has some questions to answer, too, after playing the brutish Favors for just 21 minutes in Game 2, refusing to use gritty veteran Raja Bell at all when a dose of veteran know-how was sorely needed and choosing not to give the Paul Millsap-Jefferson-Favors frontcourt more of a look. But let's face it: Hurting Utah's cause as much as anything, on top of the experience shortfall that made its Game 2 switch from purple to green unis so fitting, is the fact that the Jazz are up against a team in a groove like no other.
As much as the Spurs tried to insist throughout the regular season that seedings don't matter to them, they're obviously loving the way things played out. With the Grizzlies and Clippers beating each other up and Oklahoma City forced to deal with the defending champs from Dallas just for the right to advance to Round 2 and a likely showdown with the Lakers, San Antonio couldn't ask for more.
"I don't know if anybody's saying we're the favorite," Duncan said between games this week. "I think we have a chance. I don't think we're ever the favorite in anything."
From the other side of a matchup Duncan's winning handily just a week removed from his 36th birthday, Jefferson, not surprisingly, has a different view. He says the Spurs, for all their humility and self-deprecating humor, aren't just dead serious when the ball goes up. He says the Spurs have an unmistakable swagger now.
"And they should," Jefferson said.
Kiss our butts Jazz
Duncan with a nicely placed jab.
These guys are beat, you can tell it in the comments they are in awe of the Spurs. Corbin was saying 'we know they are going to come out at our place and jump on us.'
Stick a fork in 'em, how do you like your Jazz? Take mine medium well, thanks.
I hope you don't actually order your steaks medium well. You're disrespecting the meat and doing a grave disservice to yourself.
Medium rare is universally regarded as the optimal temperature for steaks among the best chefs on earth, although the most common temperature requested for steaks is "medium."
Sir, thank you for clearing this up for me. I wasn't always sure (and isn't one of those things I would ever look up just because it doesn't stay in my mind after a meal) but I always order my burgers medium well and my steaks medium rare
I prefer my steaks cooked.... without bacteria and whatnot...
I would like to see any true evidence that the Spurs struggle with big lineups they are 6-1 vs the LAL and Grizz and 2:1 vs the Thunder and much of that without the current starter of Diaw and with Splitter as the primary replacement center. Totally bogus.
The only thing worse than a bad loser is a bad winner.
The exchange with Pop & Parker was pretty darn funny…Something like..
Parker- “Hey I don’t want to come out…I have not played in three days & I am only 29 years old"…
Pop “Get back in there!”
This team is HOT right now. If we can stay this hot it's going to be very hard to unseat us.
The Jazz are a team that needs motivation, and the home crowd gives them that. There's a reason there's such a dichotomy between road and home performance for that team.
Dat Swag level on 100.
This.
If the Spurs are able to beat the Jazz in SLC, whether a grind-it-out victory or a blowout, they'll lose their mojo and more likely than not decide the sweep. With that said, I expect the Jazz to leave everything on the floor plus more in Game 3.
Hey man, just wanna ask why that's the case? I order my steaks well done but my dad loves them medium well.
Game 3 is the key game, because nobody really expected us to lose at home. Game 3 determines how long this series goes, really. If they go down 3-0, it is probably a sweep, maybe goes to 5.
When I had not tried rare steak, I would order steaks well done or even medium well. Now, having tried a medium rare steak, there is no comparison. The juice in a rare steak is way better. Also, cooking a steak to well really toughens it compared to a rare steak.
My wife can't eat a rare steak because it disgusts her, but once you get over eating meat that still looks red, it is GREAT.
Don't pay attention to the "you're disrespecting the meat and yourself" bull that assholes who like to believe they know some big steak secret will spout off. Personally, I like my steak medium or medium rare if it's a really nice cut, but I won't begrudge others who may have a different taste like that asshole did.
What I would recommend is that everyone try a good cut medium, try one medium rare, then try well and medium well. Decide what you like the best and go with it.
On topic, the Spurs have serious swagger right now. Let's hope that swagger shows up on the road, then shows up in every series going forward too.
You only have to cook steaks to 131F (rare) to kill bacteria.
We staaaaaacked.
I like med rare.....with juices, flavor, etc
Oh ok then, noted. Just asking cause medium well is my father's favorite's style of steak. For myself, it's well done. I just like my steaks juicy, yet slightly crispy.
playing against the jazz is a nice warmup for the eventual matchups against the grizzlies and possibly the lakers. the jazz are really the poor man's grizzlies and the even poorer man's lakers.
Agreed. If the Jazz are capable of beating the Spurs, Game 3 will be the game. They're young and they don't seem to have the talent level of the elite le teams (yet -- they still have room to grow), but they're definitely the kind of team to go out there and play their hearts out, and you have to respect that.
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