[Western Conf Finals] Utah Jazz vs. San Antonio Spurs

haha Jazz just got a taste of their own medicines. you guys have had Malone, flopton and now Fisher. upset about being out-flopped? priceless!

 

dam, that oberto, is pretty good. hustling all the times. how in the world did spurs get him? anyone wanna tell me?

 

So Jazz fans were throwing things on the court and at players? That's not shocking... I think that Spurs fans are probably the dumbest in the league (along with the Mavericks' fans), but Jazz fans are probably the most hateful.



http://cbs.sportsline.com/print/nba/story/10201286/1

May 29, 2007
By Tony Mejia
CBS SportsLine.com Staff Writer

SALT LAKE CITY -- The ending was unnecessarily ugly.

Utah's fans should be ashamed of their Game 4 actions. (Getty Images)
Jerry Sloan and Derek Fisher making the walk of shame after separate ejections, fans throwing things at Spurs players from all directions, boos raining down from departing fans.

It's not the type of scene you would associate with Salt Lake City, known for its picturesque mountains, skiing and friendly atmosphere. Jazz fans who made their brethren look bad by chucking cups and whatever else they could find should be ashamed.

If they wanted to express their displeasure at anyone, it shouldn't have been the San Antonio players or the refs, but rather their own guys.

Don't blame the whistles for a 91-79 defeat that put Utah in a 3-1 hole in the Western Conference finals. That's the lamest angle. San Antonio outshot the Jazz 25-2 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, but that was entirely about aggressiveness, not bad calls.

San Antonio got to the basket and Utah didn't. The Spurs imposed their will and Utah settled for jumpers. The Jazz team that dominated the second half Saturday night was nowhere to be found. That team outscored the Spurs 50-26 in the paint. On Monday night the Spurs turned the tables, winning that battle 40-30.

Utah's players let the city down. No one else.

The bottom line is that after San Antonio wrestled away the lead from the Jazz on a Michael Finley 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining in the first quarter, the Jazz had 10 possessions where they had pulled to within one basket of tying or taking the lead and could never get it done.

"When we had a chance to get momentum on our side, we didn't have enough patience," Jazz guard Gordan Giricek said. "We were taking quick shots and we were missing the shots. It was our fault. We had our chances."

Before they turned into barbarians, the crowd at Energy Solutions Arena was ready to explode in a good way. It felt like if Utah could ever actually pull even or surge ahead, we'd be headed to San Antonio 2-2.

Instead, Salt Lake has probably seen its last basketball game of the season, and it's because the crowd was more hostile and combative than Utah's players.

Down 59-52, the Spurs executed a nice pick-and-roll that gave Tim Duncan a clear path to the basket for what seemed to be an uncontested layup. Out of nowhere, Carlos Boozer came over and swatted his shot nastily, sending him flying in one direction while the ball went in the other. Boozer then got down the court and knocked down a jumper, which was followed by a Deron Williams basket on the next possession.

That's the resistance and fire Utah needed for 48 minutes. Instead, it was only visible in short spurts and was nowhere to be found with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. Williams, shaking off a nasty stomach bug that put his availability in question, struggled with double teams in the second half. It didn't help that, aside from Boozer, his supporting cast produced little.

"We had three or four possessions where we just threw the ball away. They put pressure on us and we couldn't handle that situation very well," Sloan said. "I think they've got to learn every time they step on the floor is, obviously, you need to learn to stick with what you are trying to do and not have the turnovers and not have the fouls that put them on the free-throw line, regardless of circumstances."

That's accountability, and if Utah would've taken a little more ownership during the game instead of afterward, the result wouldn't have seemed like it was put in the hands of the officials.

That's what Manu Ginobili did. After an awful first three quarters where he was just 2-for-7, Ginobili took it upon himself to deliver the result.

"I wasn't being so aggressive or I didn't go to the rim as hard," said Ginobili, who finished with a team-high 22 points. "Then I just hit a 3 early in the fourth quarter and I just started feeling better and that's where I felt it."

That 3-pointer Ginobili was referencing pushed a 67-66 lead to four, and it closed the book on Utah's chances. It's not like the Jazz didn't have enough chances. If you get 10 opportunities to change the climate of a game, and for that matter a series, and you fail, you have no one to throw cups at but yourselves.

Once again, Andrei Kirilenko had a slow night. Mehmet Okur scored just seven points, which is now his series average. This is an All-Star we're talking about who just happens to be shooting 26 percent (10-for-38) in these four games. Fisher had more fouls than he did shots, and his frustration got the best of him late, even if the technical fouls were objectionable.

The Jazz have proven that it's no fluke that they've gotten this far. They've played with the Spurs. They've slowed Duncan. But when the opportunity came to break through, they missed out time and time again.

The blame game can be played with the mirror.

 

Ya beat me to it. That was a great game to watch. Made ma brew taste better to see Manu outflop the whole Jazz team & that ain't no small task!!

 

Where are you getting your information from?

Clean strips? Most of them? Thats ridiculuous. Any reach in on the ball is a foul. Duncan's moves have been the same as they always have been. He's not playing any differently or exposing the ball more. Its the fact the okur cannot play any defense except shoving for position and then once yao or duncan make their move to the basket he will strip 9 times out of 10.

And your telling me most of those are clean?

I am glad the spurs are on the brink of advancing. Watching a rematch of the finals and hoping the pistons pull this off is much better than watching the pistons run all over the jazzholes.

 

up tempo

 

The Spurs signed him as a free agent last year. He rarely played during his intitial season.

 

Obviously you think more of Parker/Manu than I do. They're 'all-stars' because they play with Tim Duncan and have won championships.

 

Sure, Okur is just such a genius. Without practicing any of those "clean stripes" in regular seasons, he just turned it on in the playoffs to stripe balls 9 out of 10 times cleanly from the best Center and best PF in the league. Meanwhile, NO other defensive specialist has ever figured that out or done that successfully to Yao and TD. Okur must be the best post defender has ever played the game.

 

The funniest thing about the Jazz fans was when they started chanting ref you suck after Bowen clearly did not touch the ball going out of bounds.

 

I was talking to a buddy about this during our series with them. Salt Lake City is like one big cult with Jerry Sloan playing David Koresh. Jazz fans are so delusional its not even funny. Its like they pump some kind of goofy gas into Energy Solutions Arena before the game starts. Years and years of watching Jerry Sloan ball has gone to many of the fans heads.

 

Actually, there are lots of Jazz fans who dislike Sloan and want him gone. It's similar to the anti-JVG crowd in that he can do nothing right according to those people. There was an awesome graphic one of them did about the "brain of Jerry Sloan" that had me laughing for a long time. If you substituted JVG for Sloan a lot of people on this forum would have eaten it up.

 

Exactly. Yes, Malone and Stockton started this flopping era but Ginobili is the posterchild for what it's become and how problematic it is.

A completely average basketball player without his flopping, he's flopped his way to an all star career. You shouldn't get as many as calls as he does for a guy who just consistently drives to the hoop out of control, creates contact with flying knees and arms.

Fisher's definitely bad, but Manu is at another level. The best (or worst, however you want to look at it) flopper ever.

 

It's not even Okur who's stripping the ball half the time. It's Fisher/Deron/random help defender.

Whenever Yao put the ball on the floor against Utah, it resulted in a strip or deflection way too many times. Now, the same for Duncan.

Like Hakeem showed in his video, one bounce and then shoot. Just fundamental post basketball and if you don't do it, you expose the ball for the turnover. As Van Gundy and Mark Jackson pointed out time and time again.

But yes, Okur has stepped up his D tremendously. It may have seemed like a fluke against Yao, but to do it against Duncan, he's proving that he's capable defensively in spite of his lack of great foot speed.

 

Im not saying Ginobili doesnt flop, but he is far from an average basketball player. He makes some of the most ridiculous shots i have ever seen and dude is clutch from 3 point land.

 

Tony Parker type of player is what the Rockets desperately needs. A type of player who will drive and drive into the paint no matter what!

 

mmmm, fresh slice pizza + Jazz getting ownzed = SWEEETNESSS.

 

the jazz just walked into something they didn't expect. They're probably happy getting to the WCF anyway.

 

Wow, 20 pts differentials already with 4 mins to go in 3rd quarter! William and Boozer both get into foul trouble, how was that happened?

 

JVG is cracking me up.

"I got an idea! If you make it from halfcourt........... INSTANT TIE!"

lol.