Balanced Spurs Take A 2-0 Lead on the Jazz

Spurs 105, Jazz 96

SAN ANTONIO, May 22 -- Freed from their nasty and fairly even confrontation with the Phoenix Suns, somebody its own size and age, the San Antonio Spurs might have found easy pickings in the Utah Jazz.

After two games of the Western Conference finals, the Spurs appear to have too many world-class players, too much championship experience, too much discipline and too much basketball intelligence for playoff neophyte Utah to overcome in this series.

The Jazz cut a 22-point lead to single digits several times in the fourth quarter in Game 2 Tuesday night. But on each occasion, Tim Duncan or Manu Ginobili or Tony Parker scored a basket or grabbed a rebound or made a clever play to keep Utah at arm's length. And as a result, the Spurs won 105-96 to take a two-games-to-none series lead into a three-day hiatus before the series resumes Saturday in Salt Lake City.

When the Jazz pulled within 83-76 with just more than eight minutes to play, Bruce Bowen hit his first basket of the game, a three-pointer, that pushed the Spurs lead back to 10.

When Carlos Boozer scored to pull Utah within eight, Bowen answered with another three-pointer to make it 89-78. A finger-roll by Ginobili pushed the lead to 91-78, the Jazz called time out to try to regroup. And so it went.

Duncan finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Spurs and offset Boozer's 33 points and 15 rebounds for Utah. After being outrebounded decisively in Game 1, San Antonio held a 44-35 advantage Tuesday night.

Afterward, asked what most impressed him about the Spurs, Utah Coach Jerry Sloan said: "Their ability to execute what they want to do. They get the ball in Duncan's hands or Parker's or Ginobili's . . . and they're always making something happen. They are willing to pass the ball. They are able to shoot the ball and they do things very efficiently."

The most glaring statistical indicator might have been the Spurs' 32-17 scoring advantage in the second quarter, pretty much the same thing that took place in Game 1.

"It just seems as though in that second quarter we can't sustain the intensity the way we start the game and the way we are playing in the second half," Jazz guard Derek Fisher said. "We've had really solid individual performances from some of our guys but collectively, it's just not flowing. Some guys who are struggling, including myself (1 for 7 in Game 1 and 1 for 9 in Game 2) need to consciously make an effort to get it going."

Fisher wasn't alone. Mehmet Okur, after hitting only 3 of 15 shots in Game 1, made only 4 of 13 in Game 2.

Meantime, the Spurs made 13 of 26 three-point attempts, including a perfect 3 for 3 by Brent Barry in the first half as the Spurs took a 58-41 lead.

The Spurs shot 56 percent, got a career playoff-high 14 assists from Parker and never trailed. They got a perfect half of playoff basketball from two unlikely sources: Barry and Fabricio Oberto each hit three shots in the first half.

Before the third quarter was five minutes old, San Antonio had taken a 69-47 lead, and Oberto was up to a dozen points. Sloan didn't even bother calling time out during the Spurs' onslaught, which wasn't particularly surprising given that earlier in the day he said that his team had better snap out of its funk, "because I'm not very good at babysitting."

The morning began with the Utah players feeling very good about themselves and their chances, but ended with another trouncing.

"I hope our players feel like they can come back," Sloan said, rather uncharacteristically. Utah fell behind 2-0 to the Houston Rockets and recovered to win in seven games, but they face a greater challenge here.

Even Deron Williams, Utah's impressive point guard, said: "It is a lot worse to be down 2-0 to the Spurs than it is to the Rockets, because they are a better team, defensively, offensively. They have championships and guys who know how to win. They are also a much better road team. It will be tough for us to get those two victories [in Salt Lake], but that's what we have to do to even things back up and hopefully come back here 2-2."