Utah's ready to play
SAN ANTONIO — Two quarters into the Western Conference finals, the Utah Jazz were down by 18, earning a blistering halftime speech from coach Jerry Sloan. They answered with a strong third quarter, but again found themselves down by 18 a few minutes into the final period.
Time to quit? Hardly.
While the Jazz failed to pull off the Game 1 upset, they certainly went down trying. Utah's performance over the final 10 minutes of a 108-100 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday was a strong indication this upstart team isn't taking the happy-to-be-here approach to its first conference finals appearance since 1998.
"We stayed right in it and didn't give up," forward Andrei Kirilenko said. "Now we just have to have that same intensity for the whole game Tuesday that we had in the second half."
Despite a quick turnaround from the end of its last round, the Spurs showed off their playoff pedigree. Led as usual by Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, San Antonio made 66 percent of its shots in the first half and found a way to protect its lead down the stretch when fatigue — or the Jazz's improved play — kicked in.
Whatever changed over the final 10 minutes, the lead didn't. Utah never got any closer than seven and lost in San Antonio for the 17th straight time.
"I think the first game is where you are supposed to send a message. And I don't think we did that, especially in the first half," said point guard Deron Williams, who scored 18 of his career-high 34 points in the fourth quarter. "I think we battled back in the second half and it showed a lot about us."
Duncan had 27 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, and Ginobili had 23 points and 10 assists. Parker added 21 points and six assists in the San ASntonio victory.
