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San Antonio Spurs 109, Utah Jazz 76
San Antonio, TX Nov. 27 / Wire Reports --
For the second night in a row, the Spurs are wire-to-wire winners. Malik Rose comes off the bench to score a season high 16
points, one of six Spurs in double figures, as the Spurs defeat the Utah Jazz for the 18th consecutive time, this one in
blowout fashion, 109-76.
File this one under first round TKO. Last night it was the Denver Nuggets that got the quick knockout. Tonight it was the
Jazz. San Antonio opened the game making nine of their first ten shots, with the lone miss coming on a six-foot hook shot
from Tim Duncan. That was about the only thing the Spurs missed tonight. When Duncan finally connected from the floor, it
was a 20-6 lead, and the game was effectively over.
A disgusted Jazz coach Jerry Sloan talked about the Spurs start; "They started out just like I thought they would. They came
out and tried to destroy us."
Despite Tony Parker picking up his second foul less five minutes into the game, the Spurs perimeter shooters were on early.
Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili each scored seven points in the quarter as the Spurs blistered the nets at a 75% clip while
holding the second best shooting team in the league to 21%. The Spurs were in control, leading 28-10 after one quarter.
Hard to believe that things could get worse for the Jazz, but they did. Andrei Kirilenko, the second leading scorer and
rebounder for Utah, suffered a sprained knee at the 9:07 mark of the second quarter, and did not return. Kirilenko failed to
score, missing all three shots while in the game. When he left the floor the Jazz trailed 37-14. “It's not really hurt,
it's just uncomfortable," said Kirilenko, who was on crutches afterwards.
The Spurs backcourt continued to shine even while Parker was on the bench. That’s because rookie Beno Udrih chipped in
eight points, including a pair of three pointers while Parker sat in foul trouble. When Parker returned he picked up where
he left off, scoring almost at will against his counterpart Carlos Arroyo. In fact, Parker outscored the Olympian Arroyo
11-0 in the half, including the Spurs final six points of the half. Bowen continued his solid play, equaling the eleven
points of Parker as the Spurs dominance resulted in a 54-28 lead at the half.
It was a half that saw the Spurs out shoot the Jazz 59 % to 30% while holding the Jazz to one assist in the half, and their
lowest first half point total of the season.
The rout continued in the second half. Ginobili and Duncan combined for ten quick points as the lead continued to grow.
Ginobili scored on back-to-back possessions and the Spurs lead stood at thirty (67-37), forcing Jazz coach Jerry Sloan to
call another timeout.
The Spurs biggest struggle of the game came after that timeout. Turnovers on three out of four possessions allowed Utah to
go on an 8-0 run, trimming the lead down to twenty-two, but that’s when Malik Rose took over.
After spending most of the last season in Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s dog house, Rose has been a solid contributor off the
Spurs bench early this season. The third quarter may have been his best work of the young season though. Over the course of
three and a half minutes, Rose scored ten points. Rose aggressively took the ball to the basket, forcing the Jazz to foul
him. He converted all six free throws and added a pair of jumpers from the corner to top things off.
Devin Brown talked about how the bench has played so well lately; “"They (coaches) establish that we’re one injury away from
starting and you have to go out there and play hard all the time. When our first five jump on a team like they did tonight,
we have to go out there and do the same thing. I think we did a great job of that tonight."
After scoring twenty-eight points in the first half, Utah shot 54% in the third quarter while scoring thirty points, but
thanks to Rose and company, Utah was able to trim just three points off the halftime lead. San Antonio was in control,
leading 81-58 heading to the fourth quarter.
Howard Eisley opened the scoring in the fourth quarter for the Jazz, but it would be their last points for a while as Brown
took his turn in the spotlight. Brown, the San Antonio native and UTSA graduate, scored eight of his season high 14 points
during a 15-0 run that gave the home team an astonishing 95-60 lead. Included in the run was a highlight reel alley-oop dunk
from Brent Barry. “That’s something Brent and I have worked on,” Brown said when describing the play. “Brent throws those
passes and I’ll go get them.”
Utah would go 4:29 without a point, but over six minutes without a basket as the Spurs reserves just poured it on. A pair of
free throws by Tony Massenburg completed the Spurs scoring, giving them their largest lead of the night (109-72), and a
season high in points. It was a complete team effort as every Spur scored, every Spur played at least nine minutes, but no
one playing more than the twenty-seven minutes of Duncan and Bowen.
Joining Rose and Brown in double figures was Ginobili (15 points on five of seven shooting), Parker (14 points), Duncan (12
points and 13 rebounds), and Bowen (11 points). The Spurs finished the night making 59% of their shots from the floor, and
was 32 of 41 (78%) from the free throw line. The 15 points of Matt Harpring and the 14 points of Gordon Giricek led Utah.
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