Utah v San Antonio

[Skandery]

I had the same prediction for this series as I did last.  Utah plays well and they lose in 6, they just show up and they lose in 5.  But they're still my favorite team so I get psyched for Game 1 and hope they give us a good show.  Four minutes into the game Utah was leading 7-0, my reaction "Dear God, we're going to be swept!!"  Because while the score looked good, Derek Fisher had let Finley hack him without converting the one on none layup, Boozer's first shot attempt was a fade ( ), and a nice wide-open dunk for Boozer generated beautifully by the set offense resulted in a travel call.  Utah had shown up to the game thinking they could just play some basketball and have a grand ole' time in the playoffs.  By the time San An had increased their lead to over 20 midway through the 2nd, Utah realized the depth of their error and played their absolute hearts out to lose by a substantial 8 points. 

Deron Williams continues to impress, maybe I haven't been giving him enough credit.  His 'Never say Die' attitude is easy to cheer for.  Andrei Kirilenko was put on Bowen (A mistake Jerry!!!) and was not involved.  Okur shot poorly and while Utah was making a late 4th quarter run, Jerry inexplicably stapled his shorts to the bench and gave the minutes to (drum roll please)......................................RAFAEL ARAUJO!?!?!?!?!?  Rafael thanked Jerry in kind and proceeded to let Duncan have 3 layups and a dunk while missing a 9 foot baseline shot.  Jerry re-inserted Okur with 1:12 left in the game, I can only ascertain the Ginseng finally kicked in.  Fisher was solid but unspectacular and I hope he shoots better and shows up with a little more fire next game.  Paul Millsap was an absolute god send.  Hustle, running the floor, dogged defense, great hands, Paul Millsap had a wonderful game barring one boneheaded rookie mistake of trying to dribble after a rebound.  Tony Parker relieved him of the basketball and made a layup, then briefly transformed into Rasheed Wallace as he fisted his chest and screamed an emphatic "F You" to the world, show that emotion Tony.  Carlos Boozer was a 6'9, 260 pound, steaming pile of failure.  He was outbigged, outran, out-hustled, and out-thunk by Tim Duncan (to be expected), Fabricio Oberto (a smart Euro), and Francisco Elson (at which point I started wondering if their was any brain activity whatsoever).  Before the game started, I was afraid he would do nothing but shoot fade-away jumpers and turn the ball over and BOY, he sure didn't dissappoint.  What I didn't know was that he would let Oberto get 4 uncontested layups.  Boozer was worthless on both ends of the floor and we're going to need some kind of effort from him if this series isn't going to be a sweep. 

GO JAZZ GO...........[size=07pt]I hope[/size].       

[Lurker]

Great line by a SA writer...

Buck Harvey: Wimp-free series — Spurs' edge
Web Posted: 05/20/2007 10:49 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News

Gregg Popovich can tie Jerry Sloan on Tuesday for the fifth-most playoff wins in league history. No matter what happens after that, neither will reach fourth place this season.

Red Auerbach is safe.

Popovich eventually will pass Sloan before these playoffs are over. Popovich isn't a smarter coach, and he certainly isn't a tougher one. But in this, the wimp-free series, Popovich has an edge.

His players.

They've been through this before.

Popovich and Sloan don't care about these kind of opinions. Both are men of the Midwest with a modicum of self-promotion between them, and they don't have much use for speculation.

They also are the rare stories of NBA stability. The only current coach who has been with the same franchise longer than Popovich is Sloan.

Popovich collects fine wine, and Sloan collects antiques, and both collect the souls of their players. They choose to coach by confronting their players instead of making excuses. That's why this is the wimp-free series; there aren't any coaches in this one who will complain about officiating and physical play.

Both also are known for raging at halftime, and Sunday was Sloan's turn. From Sloan: "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.'"

Funny thing, no one stayed in the locker room. Utah also was better in the second half, and the Jazz competed to an almost comical conclusion. At the end, they fouled when there was no chance to win, and they called timeouts when there was no reason to talk about anything.

Carlos Boozer underlined that with one, last futile gesture. The Spurs were ahead by eight points when a teammate threw in a jumper a split second after the final buzzer. Boozer turned to a ref and flipped two fingers down.

Good, right?

It was official. Sloan had put his stamp on them. That attitude is a reason Utah and Boozer rallied from 0-2 down to beat Houston in the first round, and it's why they will be ready Tuesday.
 

[westkoast]

Man I wish my team was still in the playoffs but it is just so much  fun to watch two teams you really are not a fan of battle it out.  No stress, no yelling at the refs on goal tending calls (well I still yell if I think a call is bad either way), and no WTF are you doing _____.

Jazz fans should be happy about this game for a couple reasons...

1) The team dug themselves into a huge hole and instead of just giving up they tried to make a game out of it in rival territory.  For a team where all the star players are playing in their first playoffs that says A LOT.  Almost makes you wonder what this team will be like in a few years when they have experience and have been in situations like the one they were in yesterday.

2) Boozer and Williams seemed to figure out how they will be able to score against this tough defense at the end there

3) The team shot a horrible % for most of the game and was still in it down the stretch

4) Spurs shot a crazy % and should have been up by 20 going into the final 3 minutes.  If the defense improves and adjusts to playing a team who executes as oppose to a team like GS who plays more like 1 on 1 on 1 on 1 on 1 (It reminds me of playing NBA LIVE where you just use one player at a time to score) then they should be very competitive for the next games. 


I don't feel the need to comment on SA because we all pretty much expected them to show up the Jazz on their home floor.  Plus what else could be said about this squad that has not been said already?  That was GREAT basketball yesterday.  If you can't appreciate Duncan's bounce pass from the top of the key and Manu's left handed bounce passes to a cutting TP then I think you should be beat 

[Laker Fan]

I agree with Skander, Sloan's inexplicable sustitutions (especially Okur) continue to baffle me even as my respect for him as a coach has grown, they were making a serious run in the fourth and a perimeter shooter who can just as easily get white hot as he can go ice cold is sitting on the bench. To my way of thinking you play the percentages and if your team is heating up it will spill over to Okur, not what's his name, it simply blew me away that the Jazz actually had a shot toward the end, it says alot about them as a team because I know that by midway through the 3rd, I started getting ready for my bike ride, in other words, I gave up, the Jazz didn't. Boozer HAS to impose his will in the paint or they are dead, Duncan or no Duncan, jump shots?!?! TAKE IT TO THE HOLE!!!!

[SPURSX3]

I say the Spurs in 5.  Jazz have two games where they would more than likely win.  one is the one they just lost - you would think they could have taken us being so tired after the Suns series.  The next best chance to grab a win is the first game in Utah.  After losing one there I would see the Spurs making the right adjustments and taking the next one there.  I am not trying to disrespect the Jazz, I just don't see them as ready to head to the big show right now,  and it seems like the Spurs are just getting better as each series goes along.

 

[westkoast]

I say the Spurs in 5.  Jazz have two games where they would more than likely win.  one is the one they just lost - you would think they could have taken us being so tired after the Suns series.  The next best chance to grab a win is the first game in Utah.  After losing one there I would see the Spurs making the right adjustments and taking the next one there.  I am not trying to disrespect the Jazz, I just don't see them as ready to head to the big show right now,  and it seems like the Spurs are just getting better as each series goes along.

 

If they can continue right where they left off at the end of game 1 I think they could take game 2.  Remember last year SA played Dallas in a one day turn around, won game 1 but ended up losing game 2.

You are not disrespecting the Jazz.  They are a very good team but they just are lacking a few things like experience in the playoffs as a squad and someone who can slow down Duncan.  The SA execution has been getting better since the first round and it only looks like it will continue to improve.  Whoever ends up in the Finals with them is really going to have their work cut out for them.  If what we said holds true then you should see as close to flawless basketball as you can get.

[Reality]

We could tell them about SuperManus 1st half of 8-8 with 3 or 4 treys leading to a 27 pt 10 assist , but would anyone get it other then us Skandery?  Beyond that, plenty of reasons for the Jazz to keep the hope up.

1.  San Ans continued failure when leading to put teams away.  All season long its been a problem, continued to be one vs Phx in the Gm 4 10 pt lead meltdown.  Also one of the Utah guys stripped Duncan in what looked to be completely clean yet got rung up when they were within 7.  Duncan doing the Stand n Veg Pop Offense.  I love it when he gets stripped when the Spurs are running (make that stalling) that crap.
Reminded me of the shuffle of feet travel Duncan did in Gm 6 vs Utah that had D'Antoni hissing.  No sorrow tho as bunny hop Stoudamires stats would be reduced by 30% if he ever got rung up for his jumps.

2.  Crusty free throw shooting by the Spurs contributes to their failure to put teams away.  Parker and GNob were the unusual contributers last night.  Why Utah let Finley get the ball 3 straight times for the automatic FTs in the final minute was baffling.  Pretty much over by the time he shot the final 6 but still they should have went after Tim Clunkin or anyone but Finley and Barrdog. 

3  Paul Millsap is a Chuck Barkley type rebounder who plays solid D.  Great pick in 2nd round, wish the Spurs had him.  Only got 15 minutes yesterday, guess Sloan was hoping Okur would finally start hitting.  In reg season game Milsap did great vs Spurs.

But the good news for the Spurs is they still have not played their best start to finish.  If and when they do it's Title IV guaranteed.

[Reality]

What exotic bird does AK-47 look like?

[Skandery]

Unless I miss my guess, we went through a time warp and played Game 1 all over again.  I mean ESPN is insisting it was Game 2, but I saw pretty much Game 1 again.  Let's let San An outscore us by eight thousant three hundred and twelve points in the 2nd quarter and claw our way back the rest of the game. 

The only time Utah seems to want to play basketball is after they're down by 24 points.  Have the decency and self-respect to at least compete a little--jeez.

[rickortreat]

I agree Skandery.  It seems like they're good enough to compete, and then they crap out in the 2nd quarter.  Once you can excuse to playoff pressure, but twice?  The Jazz bench isn't competitive against the Spurs. 

It really comes down to making shots.  The Jazz had plenty of shots, and simply didn't make them.  When you score 41 pts. in a half, you have no right to expect to win!

Again they outscored the Spurs in the second half, but only won the fourth quarter. The Spurs simply shoot at to high a percentage to fall behind by 20 pts.

The Spurs shot for 55% in this game, and 54% in the last one, while the Jazz have shot 43% and 41%.  If that keeps up, the Jazz can't win. I thought they had adjusted to the pressure the Spurs defense imposes, but it seems they haven't learned to compete.