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San Antonio Spurs 101, Utah Jazz 94
San Antonio, TX Mar. 6 / Brett Dvorak --
During the past week Tim Duncan displayed his MVP mettle, twice winning games with jump shots in the final minute. With
Duncan in the locker room nursing an ankle injury, Manu Ginobili took center stage. Ginobili was a perfect six of six from
the foul line and grabbed three rebounds in the final ninety seconds, scoring a game high 31 points as the Spurs defeat the
Jazz 101-94.
The rest of the league must be shaking their heads. How does a team lose a two time MVP and not miss a beat? It took a true
team effort to secure this victory.
Trying to block a shot Duncan appeared to land on Rasho Nesterovic’s foot, turning his ankle, forcing him out of the game
with 8:12 to play in the third quarter. X-rays were negative, but Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he doesn't expect Duncan
to play Tuesday when the Spurs host New Jersey. His status is listed as day to day.
To make matters worse, the Jazz had just completed a 9-4 run to take their first lead of the half at 59-58. Up steps Tony
Parker.
Parker struggled most of the evening, connecting on just five of fifteen shot attempts, but immediately after Duncan left
the floor, Parker was able to break free and score four quick points during a 6-0 run that re-established the Spurs lead,
but the Jazz refused to go away.
Seeing that the Spurs were much slower and weaker in the paint, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan instructed his players to continue to
drive to the basket. Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur combined to score nine points late in the quarter keeping the Jazz
close, 73-72 entering the final quarter.
"Good teams and great teams take advantage whenever they can,” Sloan said when talking about beating teams without their
best players. “ But right now, we're not that kind of a team."
With Parker taking his customary break to start the fourth quarter, rookie Beno Udrih took his turn leading the charge.
Udrih scored six points during a 10-2 start to the quarter, helping the Spurs jump out to an 83-74 lead with 9:26 to play.
While Udrih was leading the offense, Nesterovic was busy shutting down the Jazz offense. During the run Nesterovic blocked a
pair of shots and dished out a couple of assists as the Spurs were finally able to get out and run the floor.
Looking to slow down the Spurs, Utah began playing the Spurs very physically on the defensive end, putting the onus on the
officials to make the calls. The aggressor usually gets the calls, and that held true as Jazz forwards Kirilenko and Matt
Harpring took the ball to basket drawing fouls on the Spurs big men. According to Popovich, these were the same type fouls
that were not being called on the other end of the floor. Popovich picked up a technical foul for his troubles. Utah
finished a 12-3 run, cutting the Spurs lead down to three points with just over five and a half minutes to play.
After a Spurs timeout, Popovich put the ball in Ginobili’s hands to finish the game. Ginobili sealed the victory by going
to the foul line. One of the Spurs best free throw shooters, Manu made fourteen of fifteen free throws on the night.
Ginobili did it all, finishing with 7 assists and 8 rebounds to go along with his 31 points.
"We are not used to playing without Tim," Ginobili said. "We could do nothing about that so we said we have to forget about
him. It was a big effort, and we are satisfied with it."
In the two previous meetings with the Jazz this season, Ginobili made eleven of his eighteen field goal attempts, so it came
as no surprise when Manu started the game on fire. A pair of three pointers and a conventional three-point play were part of
an eleven point first quarter. Ginobili finished the night making half of his fourteen field goal attempts.
Ginonbili wasn’t the only one shooting well; second year guard Keith McLeod scored seven points to keep the visitors close.
Both teams shot in excess of 50% and the Spurs led 27-20 after one quarter.
Off-season acquisition Memhet Okur continued his strong play off the bench for the Jazz. Okur scored all ten of his first
half points in the second quarter, including four during a 9-2 run that trimmed what was once a twelve point lead (40-28) to
42-37, but the Spurs had the answer.
Guess who? That’s right; Ginobili scored six points, including a four-point trip on one possession. After stealing a pass
from Kirilenko, Ginobili was fouled on a break to the basket by Raja Bell. A flagrant foul was called where Manu sank both
free throws and after the inbounds Ginobili drove to the lane for a lay up giving the Spurs an eleven-point lead.
It was the first of two four-point plays for Ginobili who drained a three-point basket while being knocked to the floor in
the third quarter.
In addition to Ginobili, the Spurs received double figure scoring from Bruce Bowen (18 points), Duncan and Parker (12 points
each), and Udrih (11 points). The Spurs improved their record to 24-0 when scoring over one hundred points.
Utah falls to 20-39 and was led by McLeod’s 18 points and 8 assists. Joining him in double figures were Bell (17 points
before fouling out), Kirilenko (16 points), Okur (14 points), and Harpring (12 points).
The question for the Spurs now is how long before Duncan will be available to hit another game winning jumper?
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