SAN ANTONIO – The Jazz plan was the bang away at the Spurs, beat them, bruise them, chop away and eventually bring them down the way a lumberjack does to a tree.
But you can’t hit what you can’t catch and so the Spurs ran and dashed and sprinted to a 106-91 win in Game 1 on Sunday. It’s just the latest step in the remarkable transformation of the Spurs from the NBA’s premier defensive team to the club that ranked second in the league in scoring this season.
“It began 2 ½ years ago out of necessity when we realized we couldn’t defend like that anymore and I realized that we were going to have to score more in order to win,” said San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich.
All in all, the Spurs did a pretty solid job of combating what was supposed to be Utah’s big advantage on the backboards, managing to stay within 45-39 in rebounding.
But almost every time that Utah managed to hammer and maul and work away on the inside to chip the lead down to what appeared to be striking distance, the Spurs responded literally with a run. It was either Tony Parker running down the middle of the lane for another layup or Manu Ginobili running through traffic for a dunk or even 36-year-old Tim Duncan sprinting down the floor as a trailer on the fastbreak.
You can’t hit what you can’t catch.
Great game, the Spurs started a little rusty, but still got the win. Go Spurs Go!
i missed that game
all i saw was Tony Parker driving in and drawing the foul during the first half….but i think he did that many times
15 more wins and we are there .Go Spurs go
Great game by the Spurs.
Patty Mills only 2 minutes after his 2 game explosion. Cmon Pop just a little more love for the little Aussie please…
Minus injuries and bad luck, the Spurs will go all the way and win the NBA crown! A perfect end to a great season. Go Spurs Go!
@BIGMatta23:
Are you hinting that Popovich isn’t so good at rotating players?
I always trust in Pop, just that being an Aussie too and after watching Patty’s finish to the season (which Pop didn’t see because he was at home sipping wine) I thought he would get more and deserved more burn…10-15 minutes. I’m liking the Spurs to come out of the West.
Being an australian/american, I really would like to see Patty do well. I cant deny his scoring ability, but on defense he gets lost on the most basic picks. See how easy Tony Parker leaves Devin Harris in his tracks…… Thats what Devin would do to Patty. You cant afford to make a bad point gaurd (Harris) look good. Thats the main advantage we have over the Jazz right now.
Devin Harris is a bad point guard?
dude he’s horrible, everyone in utah hates him, if we had a good point guard we would destroy people
I really like Harris, and I am from Utah lol….
love ya.