Reply With Quote
Spurs will ave a heck of a road to repeat.
Suns in the first round, Mavs or Hornets in the second round.
If they survive to that, you can imagine a WCF against Lakers and a final against Celtics or Pistons.
Spurs tune out Jazz - Third seed sets up date with Suns in first round
Web Posted: 04/17/2008 12:31 AM CDT
Jeff McDonald
Express-News
Twelve days earlier, the Spurs departed Salt Lake City with their heads hung low.
In a game that was good for neither their pride nor their place in the standings, they had just been blown out by the Utah Jazz, amassing a paltry 64 points and flirting with a franchise record for scoring futility.
Thanks to what they accomplished Wednesday night, against the same Jazz team that hardly looked the same, the Spurs won't have to set foot in Utah again for the time being.
With Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and their omnipresent defense all seeming to hit playoff form at once, the Spurs took perfectly executed vengeance on the Jazz, winning the regular-season finale 109-80 at the AT&T Center
"I thought the team was very focused from beginning to end," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "It was a very purposeful performance."
The victory locked the Spurs into the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference and ensured home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Had they lost, the Spurs would have been headed to Utah later this week to open their first-round series. Instead, they will open at home against Phoenix Saturday at 2 p.m.
That's not quite a cupcake draw, either — the Suns are 2-0 against the Spurs since acquiring Shaquille O'Neal, including a 21-point victory in San Antonio a week ago.
"They've kicked our fannies a few times this year, just like Utah did," Popovich said.
On Wednesday, the Spurs did the fanny kicking. In doing so, they looked little like the team that had limped out of Salt Lake City less than two weeks earlier as the victim of a 90-64 defeat.
Parker scored 24 points and set a season high with 12 assists to record his second straight double-double, while Duncan had 14 points and 11 rebounds in 27 minutes as the Spurs shot a season-best 59.4 percent to bury the Jazz early.
"We remembered what they did to us up there," forward Ime Udoka said.
The first sign of how badly the Spurs wanted the game came with 5:47 left in the first quarter. That's when Manu Ginobili checked into the game.
He had missed the past three games with a strained groin. With so much on the line Wednesday, he wasn't about to miss this one.
As it turns out, Ginobili's return was but a footnote to a massacre.
The Spurs, rumored to have been in a late-season shooting slump, made 72.2 percent of their shots in the first half to take a 65-39 lead.
Parker led the first-half layup drill, pinballing his way through the paint at will.
By half, he had 15 points and had already matched a season high with 11 assists at the break.
Parker's 11th assist, a deep pass that Ginobili converted into a fast-break layup with 41.4 seconds left until half, resulted in the Spurs' 64th and 65th points — surpassing what they scored in four quarters against Utah less than two weeks earlier.
Twenty-five years ago to the day, the Spurs set an NBA mark by shooting 70.7 percent in a victory over Dallas. At halftime Wednesday, they were on their way toward rewriting that record.
"They wouldn't let us take a breath tonight," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said.
With a defensive effort lifted out of postseasons past, the Spurs forced the Jazz into producing a box score straight out of last year's conference finals.
Mehmet Okur was 2 of 8 from the field on his way to 11 points, which led Utah's starters.
Deron Williams, the Jazz catalyst, had five points in the first half before retreating to the locker room for good after aggravating a tailbone bruise.
He didn't miss much.
The Jazz fell behind by as many as 33 points in the second half.
"We started taking jump shots and they started to do what they wanted," Sloan said. "Our shots just became layups on the other end."
The game ended the same way the Spurs fateful trip to Utah did. Duncan, Parker and the rest of their regulars were on the bench, watching the reserves finish off a blowout.
This time, however, the Spurs left the building feeling much better about themselves.
"We needed this one," Ginobili said. "It was good for our heads."
[email protected]
LINK: http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...r.3ec72e6.html
Spurs will ave a heck of a road to repeat.
Suns in the first round, Mavs or Hornets in the second round.
If they survive to that, you can imagine a WCF against Lakers and a final against Celtics or Pistons.
If they do repeat... this will be a championship for the ages!
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
