What more can you really say? The San Antonio Spurs trio of Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, and Tim Duncan kept themselves to 60 points, which is at the lower end of their spectrum. And the Spurs still easily defeated the Utah Jazz 105-96 in yet another game where the final score just doesn't demonstrate how the Spurs outplayed their opposition in every way.
The key tonight was Tony Parker and his 14 assists, a playoff high for him. Parker is typically not in the vein of Steve Nash or other point guards who genuinely look to distribute before making their own shot. This isn't a bad thing for Parker, as his amazing speed and nose for good dribble penetration serve him just fine. He's got the rings to prove it. But if he's now starting to incorporate the kind of passing that we've seen in the first two games of the series, Utah is in for a long one, and the league as a whole should consider itself duly warned for next year.
The rest of San Antonio's players did the scoring that Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker left for them tonight. Brent Barry and Bruce Bowen each contributed their hallmark 3-point shooting, each hitting a set of three 3-point field goals at the most opportune of times. Barry’s were the foundation of the Spurs second quarter run that blew the game open, and Bowen’s were responsible for turning back multiple rallies from Utah in the fourth quarter. Michael Finley also came off the bench with 11. Everyone playing in a Spurs uniform seemed to be on tonight - the team shot a collective 55% from the field and 50% from behind the arc, both well over what the Jazz are used to allowing.
If the Jazz want to look for a bright spot, it is that Carlos Boozer proved capable of exploding offensively even when playing San Antonio's unforgiving defense. Boozer had 33 points and 15 boards and with Deron Williams' 26 points and 10 dishes, the Jazz's heavy lifters did their work. Paul Millsap's early foul trouble, a total of 8 points from Utah's bench, Okur's continued struggles shooting the basketball (4-of-12 for 11 points), and a myriad of other little problems hamstrung Utah all night. The feel good story around Derek Fisher seems to have dried up: Fisher is 1-for-16 through the first two games of the series.
Article comments
1 - Jen
105 is a lot of points! but DEtroit will get em in the Finals!
2 - Jared Wright
The Suns look up from sulking to scoff at the 105-point total. :)
And I dunno, I don't think anybody short of the Mavs can beat San Antonio when they're playing this well. Detroit's good. Very good. I just don't see them being able to offensively keep up, and there's no way they're going to hold the Spurs to less than 85 points like they are Cleveland.