San Antonio Spurs Push Utah Jazz To Brink Of Elimination
The San Antonio Spurs kept on doing what they have been doing best all year so far on a date when the game could have gone either way. Tony Parker was swallowed by the Utah Jazz defense for more than forty minutes in this game, but in the end, it was Parker and Spurs who took a commanding 3-0 lead over the Jazz in the best of seven series.
San Antonio was able to win this game even though they had more turnovers than the Jazz and were out-rebounded because of their experience. When Utah began to wilt, San Antonio began to pour it on with Tony Parker leading the way.
Parker led the Spurs with 27 points on 10-17 shooting to go along with six assists, but he also had a team high five turnovers. Devin Harris and Al Jefferson finally played how we thought they would this series, both scoring 21 points. Jefferson also pulled down eleven rebounds and Harris contributed six assits.
One major reason San Antonio was able to win this game was because of defense. Take a look at the box score and you will notice that seven Spurs had at least one block, being led by Tim Duncan with three. Though the Spurs only had two steals, they turned the blocks, steals, and long rebounds into 22 fast break points.
Utah was able to hang around due to 17 offensive rebounds. 17! However, their poor shooting continued, as they took nine more shots than the Spurs (89-80), but made three less (36-39). If Utah wants to win a game this season, they have to shoot better than 40.5% in a playoff game.
With no team ever in NBA history having come back from a 3-0 deficit, Utah has a lot of work to do to make this a series, but do not count the Jazz out. Game 4 is Monday night, don’t forget to check back here on Monday for the preview.
Follow Paul Troupe on Twitter @gamin4HIM
Buy San Antonio Spurs Tickets | Buy San Antonio Spurs ApparelLeave a Rant
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!