Spurs stop Jazz, move one win closer to NBA Finals berth
Web Posted: 05/29/2007 12:35 AM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-news
SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz had splintered another Spurs lead, bumping and clawing their way within a single point as the frenzied sellout crowd filling EnergySolutions Arena roared its approval.
Manu Ginobili, apparently, had seen and heard enough. Having watched the Spurs wither under Utah’s physicality just two days earlier, he cradled the ball with both hands and barreled into the lane, crashing into Jazz forward Paul Millsap before dropping to the court.
Ginobili picked himself up, then stepped to the free-throw line, a process he would repeat time and again for the remainder of the game. Drive. Crash. Free throw. Drive. Crash. Free throw.
By the time Ginobili was done Monday, he had scored 16 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, sent Utah coach Jerry Sloan and Derek Fisher marching to the locker room in frustration and pushed the Spurs to a 91-79 victory that left them on the edge of the NBA Finals.
“I just tried to do the same thing,” Ginobili said. “Play as tough as them.”
That was enough to give the Spurs a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals. They will attempt to close out the best-of-7 series Wednesday at the AT&T Center.
“It is a great position to be in,” said Tim Duncan, who provided 19 points, nine rebounds and five blocks. "But we don’t in any way think we are just going to walk in our building and take these guys out.
“They have shown they can play with us. They have shown that they are very physical.”
Unlike two nights earlier when Utah handed them a 26-point loss that was their largest in nearly two years, the Spurs matched the Jazz’s physicality. WithFabricio Oberto contributing 11 points and 11 boards despite playing with a sprained right thumb, the Spurs won the rebounding battle 39-38 and limited Utah to only three second-chance points.
The Spurs’ aggressiveness — or, depending on which colors you wear, their good fortune — showed itself most in the staggering 25 free throws they took in the fourth quarter. Four of the foul calls led to the ejections of Sloan and Fisher.
The Jazz simmered about the officiating for much of the night before boiling over after Ginobili drove to the rim and banked in a tough shot to put the Spurs ahead 85-73 with 2:34 left. Fisher and Ginobili bumped each other while running downcourt after the play and official Ken Mauer hit the Utah guard with a technical.
Sloan — who already had picked up one technical earlier in the quarter for arguing about a call Ginobili had received — then blistered official Steve Javie until he was ejected. Fisher followed his coach to the locker room a little more than a minute later when he was ejected for flinging Ginobili to the ground.
“I can’t recall doing anything for that to happen,” Ginobili said. “But, you know, if that helps the team win and get a couple of easy free throws, I’m ready to do it.”
Fisher was unavailable for comment because he flew to New York after the game to be with his daughter during her doctor’s appointment today. Aside from offering a terse “we just couldn’t keep them off the free-throw line,” Sloan also didn’t want to speak much about the officiating.
“All that does,” he said, “is get me in more trouble.”
The Jazz looked ready to overtake the Spurs after reducing an 11-point deficit to 63-62 at the end of the third quarter. In addition to making just two baskets in the final 7 minutes, 12 seconds of the quarter, the Spurs still hadn’t been able to slow Utah point guard Deron Williams.
The Spurs also couldn’t count on a stomach virus to keep Williams bedridden. Though Williams lost 8 pounds over the previous two days and didn’t participate in Utah’s morning shootaround, he looked just fine the moment he stepped onto the court, scoring 24 points through the first three quarters.
“I really didn’t feel so well the whole game,” Williams said. “But it’s not the time to just lay it down.”
Williams had reason to feel even worse once the fourth quarter started. The Spurs began blitzing him with two defenders for the first time in the series to make him give up the ball.
The result? Williams made only one of five shots and scored three points in the fourth quarter.
“The young man is incredible, and he was slicing and dicing us,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We just gave him a couple of different looks. I don’t think it totally stopped him, but it helped us a little bit maybe.”
The Jazz, meanwhile, couldn’t keep Ginobili off the free-throw line. After drawing the foul on Millsap to start the fourth quarter, Ginobili grabbed an errant pass and drove to the rim to saddle Mehmet Okur with his fourth foul.
The next time down the floor, Ginobili drilled a 3-pointer.
“I don’t think I did too much to get into their skin in the first three quarters,” Ginobili said. “I wasn’t being so aggressive or I didn’t go to the rim as hard. Then I just hit the three and I started feeling better.”
That was good news for the Spurs, who ran off the court as some fans began pelting them with water and other debris. Ginobili, having long dealt with hostile crowds in Europe, didn’t flinch.