Category: San Antonio Spurs

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 In the Head of their Opponents

Tye Corbin, the young Head Coach for the Utah Jazz, has plenty of NBA experience and even has in depth experience with the San Antonio Spurs since they were the team that drafted him into the NBA as the 35th overall selection in the 2nd round of the 1985 draft.  Corbin spent his first two seasons with the Silver and Black before signing on with the Cleveland Cavaliers (and nine teams after the Cavs) before ending his 11 year career.

Still, Corbin experienced a panic attack before game 1 against his former team.

“I felt fine right up to the beginning of the game, and then the jitters started,” he said.  “I started thinking: ‘Are we ready? Did we cover everything? Are the combinations right? Is the lineup right? Do the players understand everything?’ It just started spinning like that.”

The Spurs are hoping that the Jazz pick up on that for, if the top man is in doubt…

“I’ll have to get better,” he said. “Make sure I’m relaxed.”

The Spurs, meanwhile, have no such problems with their head man.  Popovich is one of the most savvy coaches in the NBA and such things just don’t happen to him once he takes the court.  For Popovich, this is just another chapter in a long history of Spurs playoff basketball.

Still, don’t expect the Jazz to just lay down and die.

“It’s just one game,” Jazz Point Guard Devin Harris said after their 106-91 loss in Game 1.

While that may be true, what is even more true  is that the Spurs have proven playoff experience having been in the Western Conference playoffs 22 of the last 23 seasons with four NBA Championships to show for it.

What is even more unfortunate for the Jazz is that SG Manu Ginobili is 100% healthy and the possibility of another first round meltdown such as the one against Memphis last season is highly unlikely to repeat itself and, you can guarantee the Spurs have yet to forget about it.

“Everybody knows what happened last year,” PG Tony Parker said. “Everybody is motivated.”

Still, the young coach for this young Jazz squad should  look at this loss as a learning experience and learn from it as the Spurs did trying to get over the hump with the Lakers throughout the 80’s.

“They just know what it takes to put you away,” said Ty Corbin. “They don’t just play guys. The guys they put on the floor are very effective at what they do.”

Effective, yes. Happened overnight, no.

 

 

 

 

Spurs poised to take the title in an “even” year

The Spurs are back.  The best evidence to back up this claim is the lack of media attention the Spurs have been playing through.  No longer are there catcalls that the team is too old to compete.  In fact, this 2011-12 edition of the Spurs are now the 13th oldest team behind such teams as (and in order)

NBA Oldest Teams

  1. Mavericks
  2. Hawks
  3. LA Lakers
  4. Celtics
  5. Suns
  6. Heat
  7. Trailblazers
  8. Magic
  9. Bulls
  10. Clippers
  11. Raptors
  12. Pistons
  13. Spurs

The Spurs are also still being disrespected by the Vegas odds makers who still have them listed at 8/1 to win while the Heat are 9/5, Thunder are 3/1, the Bulls are 15/4, the Lakers 14/1 and the Clippers 20/1.

While the Spurs are indeed younger, this team in this lockout shortened season and their head coach Gregg Popovich are indeed the perfect fit.   Pop has been regulating minutes for his “Big Three” all season and when an 11-game winning streak was on the line, Pop did not hesitate from not playing (heck not even flying them over) the Utah Jazz in Utah.  While some of the Jazz players said they felt “disrespected” by Pop’s move, they have to know that if the “Big Three” had shown up, the Jazz would have been one step further from the playoffs. As it is, they are barely hanging on and the victory over the Spurs kept them alive.  So, Jazz fans do not be miffed that the “Big Three” were held back.   You should be thanking Popovich for the gift.