http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660222494,00.html
Spurs are a different animal
Brad Rock
SAN ANTONIO — The Jazz overcame the improbable scoring variations of Houston's Tracy McGrady and the mountainous size of Yao Ming in the first round of the playoffs. They danced with Golden State, turning the Warriors' guilt-free shooting attack against them in the next round.
A job well done, by almost anyone's account.
Too bad for the Jazz that's not likely to be enough anymore.
Now it's a different animal entirely: the San Antonio Spurs.
The Western Conference finals began Sunday at AT&T Center the way all other games have for the Jazz in this town since 1999 — with a loss. That makes it 17 in a row in the Alamo City. Way back in the declining years of Karl Malone, Jeff Hornacek and John Stockton, the Jazz started losing here — just as the Spurs were rising — and haven't been able to turn things around since.
"When you're playing the Spurs — especially in the playoffs — to beat them, you don't have to play perfectly," said Jazz guard Derek Fisher. "But to beat them here, you have to be near perfect."
You mean shooting under 30 percent for half the game isn't good enough to beat the three-time NBA champions?
"We know who we're playing against — one of the great, great teams," said a predictably pessimistic Jerry Sloan after the Jazz's 108-100 loss. "You find out who you are."
Who the Jazz are now, if you ask him, are a team void of excuses. Before, it was the young Jazz, the ones that started the playoffs four weeks ago. But after winning their first two playoff series, he now considers them veterans. So don't bother bringing up inexperience.
When someone did in the post-game press conference, Sloan snapped: "We've had two series now and I don't want to hear anything more about being young."
Fine. So when is Bingo Night at the rest home?
In some ways, Sloan is right. Having come back from a 0-2 deficit in the first round, then dispatched a dangerous and confident Golden State, it seems these Jazz have been playing in the post-season for years. They even looked a bit like a veteran team in the second half Sunday. After falling behind by 19, they took on the look of a typical Sloan team, which is to say "annoyingly persistent."
You know those salespeople you just can't shake? That's the Jazz.
Don't turn around too quickly, or you just might bump into them.
It did take them awhile to get going. They were ragged and clumsy, missing open shots and playing peek-a-boo defense in the early going. San Antonio's lead stretched to 16 before halftime. By the early fourth quarter it was apparent Sloan was willing to try just about anything — and did. He inserted seldom-used Rafael Araujo, who ended up playing nearly nine respectable minutes. During his session, the Jazz cut a 19-point deficit to 11, and afterward whittled it to eight.
But it wasn't enough. Because the Spurs have been through all this. They won championships in 1999, 2003 and 2005. Their streak of consecutive playoff appearances is now 10, longest in the league. In fact, the Spurs have made the post-season in 17 of the last 18 seasons and 27 of 31.
Some of those years involved other Spurs players.
Nonetheless, their consistency is impressive. Like Regis Philbin and last winter's sniffles, they just keep coming back.
Consequently, even though the Jazz didn't fold, neither did the Spurs. San Antonio made enough shots down the stretch, and played enough defense, to hold on. It wasn't particularly pretty. As Fisher described it, "We just weren't sharp."
That, of course, can largely be blamed on the Spurs.
"A lot of things can be determined at this point as far as who they (the Jazz) want to be, now and in the future," said Sloan.
What they want to be now is nearly perfect.
What they want to be in the future is what the Spurs are now.
I like the way this Jazz team is built, about the only thing they are missing is a solid 2 guard, if they got that then they would be the best starting 5 in the NBA or pretty close to it. I don't think even Pop and RC could build this team any better without actually winning the lottery.
anybody else baffled by how much praise we're recieving from the media only days after they were calling us the dirtiest team since Detroit's Bad Boys?
You will find that a man gets a lot more credit for punching out a dude than he does for punching out a chick.
Well said.
very well put
If we'd lost we'd be a bunch of worthless bums...
As long as you win...it doesn't matter what else you do, you'll get respected, whether you deserve it, or not.
Edit: Until the next loss in the next series.
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