Tag: Al Jefferson

Spurs sweep sets up match against either Lakers or Thunder (and we’re betting the Thunder)

“I don’t see nobody beating them,” Utah Jazz PF Al Jefferson

The San Antonio Spurs spent the weekend taking care of family business feasting on the Los Angeles Clippers in the second round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs for their second sweep while setting an NBA record as only the 12th team in NBA History to sweep the first two rounds as well as making the Top 10 List of NBA teams with the longest winning streak. But don’t tell Head Coach Gregg Popovich about a streak…he has no idea.

“It doesn’t exist for us,” coach Gregg Popovich said of the team’s 18th win. “We don’t talk about it. I’ve never heard anyone mention it except (in the media). It is not even a thought in our minds. Each game is a separate entity.”

The Spurs used their combination of basketball knowledge, execution and will to overcome a young Clippers squad. One thing for sure is that this Los Angeles team came to play unlike the other remaining Squad, the Lakers. The LA Clippers have played exciting basketball all year; the Lakers are hanging on by a Kobe thread and are one game away from Summer vacation.

“We had a good season,” Paul said. “I think it’s a good sign for our team, but there are no moral victories. It’s not like, ‘Oh, we made it to the playoffs and it’s all good and well.’ We feel like we should still be playing. We’re going to keep working. We’ve got some work to do. We obviously have got to get better.”

Whether the Spurs face the Los Angeles Lakers or the Oklahoma City Thunder, one thing is for sure, this Spurs club is just as good (or better) then their other championship squads and are for sure a much deeper team than those squads

“This year reminds me of when I was here the last time (2003),” said late arrival Stephen Jackson, who came in under the trade deadline. “It is a great team and great guys to be around. Nobody is worried about their personal game and everybody wants to just win. So it is still the same around here.”

The Spurs fly back home today and should arrive to a nice crowd to greet them at the San Antonio International Airport, get back home and watch the Lakers and Thunder beat each other up for the right to face them.

“I don’t see nobody beating them,” Utah Jazz PF Al Jefferson

Spurs looking to close out Jazz

With the need to win game 3 in Utah, the Jazz have been taken out of their game by one of the NBA’s most fundamentally solid teams.  There are no Jazz players spouting the cliches such as “our backs are against the wall” or “we just need to hold serve.”  No instead it seems as though the Jazz are on a love fest.

“I just think we’re playing against a team that is at its peak,” Al  Jefferson said. “I don’t see nobody beating them. We ain’t given up trying. But this is a great team.”

For the Spurs, it is business as usual and the team knows just what it takes to win.  PG Tony Parker for one knows what it takes to move on.

“We can’t be satisfied with ourselves,” Parker said. “Make sure we keep the same mentality. Keep playing well. Keep playing with a lot of energy.”

Game 4 is scheduled for 8 PM Eastern time at Energy Solutions Arena is Salt Lake City.

Spurs go streaking into L.A.

By Jeff McDonald

LOS ANGELES — The question was meant to be a brainteaser. The answer was not supposed to come so easily.

When Tony Parker was asked recently to name the last time his Spurs had lost a game, he could have at least paused a beat and pretended to wrack his brain.

“It was the Lakers,” Parker said, without hesitation.

Consider it proof Parker’s memory isn’t yet failing him, even at the ripe age of 30.

Los Angeles Lakers 98, Spurs 84. That was the last time the Spurs walked off the floor at the ATT Center, or anywhere else, in defeat.

That was April 11. That was 16 wins and 38 days ago.

As the top-seeded Spurs hit the Staples Center today — up a dominating 2-0 in the Western Conference semifinals against Southern California’s other team, marching toward what feels like an inevitable conference final against Oklahoma City — they do so trying to convince themselves of something that doesn’t seem readily apparent.

“We’re not unbeatable,” Parker said. “Anybody can beat anybody. We have to play our best basketball to go far.”

Not unbeatable?

Utah’s Al Jefferson wasn’t so sure during the Spurs’ first-round sweep.

Having dropped the first two games of the second round by a combined 33 points, the fifth-seeded Clippers must be having doubts now, too.

“Right now, everybody’s ?eating,” said Chris Paul, the Clippers’ hobbled and struggling point guard. “Now we go to L.A. and see if we can cut off the water a little.”

The series moves to Hollywood for Games 3 and 4 today and Sunday. It’s going to take more than a change of scenery to close down the Spurs’ buffet line.

During their 16-game run, the Spurs have won by an average of 17.1 points. The 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks, who won 16 in a row by 19.5 points, are the only team in NBA history to top that.

As for the part about the Spurs needing to play their best basketball? They aren’t sure they’ve done it yet.

Coach Gregg Popovich went into Thursday grumbling about 18 turnovers and at-times unfocused transition defense in Game 1.

In Game 2, the Spurs gave up 9 of 13 from the 3-point line, a 69.2-percent clip for the Clippers. They still won by 17 points, but who, besides Popovich, is counting?

“That’s what coaches do,” Popovich said. “We have the film, so you can see all kinds of mistakes. We can play better, but they can too.”

Forgive center Boris Diaw for wondering how much better the Spurs can play. They are 26-2 since his arrival from Charlotte on March 23.

“It’s pretty easy to adjust to this team, because of the way they’re playing,” said Diaw, who followed 12 rebounds in Game 1 with 16 points in Game 2. “They’re playing smart basketball.”

No Spurs team has won more than 17 in a row, a streak they can equal today.

Quick prediction: The Spurs will lose again sometime in franchise history. It might even happen during this rare playoff back-to-back, a byproduct of the cramped lockout schedule.

The last time the Spurs played two postseason games in two nights, they closed down the Great Western Forum with a pair of victories over the Lakers in the 1999 conference semis.

Superstitious Spurs fans should enjoy the symmetry. That team went on to win the franchise’s first title in a lockout-shortened season.

“We’re out here for one goal,” said Tim Duncan, who averaged 22 points in the first two games against the Clippers. “We’ve got a team we believe can challenge for that.”

That’s why the Spurs seem so unimpressed with their winning streak, why Popovich doesn’t want to answer questions about it and why players don’t want to think about it.

Sixteen wins mean little when there are still 10 more to go.

“For us, it’s good to not look at that and concentrate on the task,” Parker said. “We should focus on Game 3 and not on the winning streak.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

SPURS VS. CLIPPERS
(Spurs lead best-of-seven series 2-0)

Game 1:

Game 2:

Game 3: Saturday, @Clippers, 2:30 p.m., ABC

Game 4: Sunday, @Clippers, 9:30 p.m., TNT

* Game 5: Tuesday, @Spurs, TBA, TNT

* Game 6: Friday, @Clippers, TBA, ESPN

* Game 7: May 27, @Spurs, TBA, TNT

* If necessary