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I close my eyes, and I see Bruce Bowen in the corner, nailing yet another 3-pointer. I see Tony Parker barreling through the paint like a runaway locomotive. I see Fabricio Oberto calmly putting in layups off of back-door cuts, while all five Jazz players are rooted to the floor. And above all, I see Tim Duncan doing everything — pinpoint bounce passes, turnaround jumpers, even free throws (!!!).
When I open my eyes, all I see is the bare truth: the Utah Jazz are down 2-0 to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. And we’re not coming back up.
These first two games have been so bad, it’s like one of those nightmares where just at the most horrible moment, when the tension is unbearable and you’re sure it CAN’T be real, you gasp and wake up. But there’s no waking, no comfort, no chance to catch your breath and put things in perspective. There’s only the Spurs and their bedamned efficiency and stifling defense and intimidation. They’re monsters. They’re the Boogeyman. They’re a silver-and-black hole that we just cannot escape from, after 18 straight tries in Alamo country. And there’s not a thing we can do about it.
It’s sickening how alike Games 1 and 2 were. We hang tough for a quarter, make some shots, get a few stops, generally perform well. Then we get summarily dismantled in the second quarter, as the Spurs simply choose not to miss (I swear, it’s like a conscious decision for this team). Then we pull back late in the fourth quarter when the Spurs have been mailing it in, just close enough to make them stop toying with us and put in the knockout punch. It’s like playing Tecmo Bowl and running backwards with Bo Jackson for thirty yards just for kicks, JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN, then realizing that the clock has already hit zero and you have to stop screwing around and actually score before someone gets a lucky tackle on you. That’s how the Spurs are against the Jazz in San Antonio. They’re Tecmo Bo. They’re too good to be allowed.
We played better overall last night. Boozer was involved, D-Will continued to do his thing, Memo hit some early shots. We had it going in the first quarter. We were better than Game 1.
But so were the Spurs. Every time we try to turn it up a notch, they get just that much more intense, that much more focused. And I don’t know what we can do about it.
These two games have exposed what Jazz fans already know: we’re simply not a very good defensive team. As much as the national media likes to talk about slow-paced, physical, grind-it-out Utah basketball, it isn’t true. We’ve won this year because we’ve been too good offensively. We’ve been weak defensively all year, especially when Andrei hasn’t been on his game. Boozer is at best an average defender. Memo is underrated defensively but still not fantastic. Deron Williams is physical but not quick enough. Fisher is too small. Gira is too clumsy. Brewer is too young. Millsap is too small. Harpring is too slow.
We were able to cover this weakness in the first two rounds — the Rockets aren’t a good shooting team, and the Warriors are too streaky. But you can’t hide a flaw this big against a team this good. They will strip you bare.
Things will go better in SLC (they can’t go too much worse). Memo will shoot better, as will Harpring and Fisher. Even Tim mentioned post-game that we shoot a lot better at home. And the Spurs will shoot worse (PLEASE GOD let them shoot worse). We’ll have more defensive energy. We’ll get a few more calls. I’m trying to stay optimistic.
One thing that Mark Jackson said last night on the ESPN broadcast was that the Jazz are letting the Spurs get whatever they want offensively. When you know a team is doing that, you have to make a conscious decision as a team to deny your opponent at least one thing, anything, so that you get some control back and start to dictate the game, if only a little bit. The Jazz need to clog the lane and stop Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili from penetrating, because that sets up everything else. They also need to be a LOT more aware on back-door cuts and screens — there’s simply no excuse for letting Fabricio “I should be in a GEICO caveman commercial” Oberto drop 14 and 7 on us. Close the lane, make the Spurs shoot from outside, and they’ll start to miss those shots in the pressure of our home court. It’s the only thing we can do.
But will it be enough? At this point, I don’t think anyone with a grain of realism can think we can win four of the next five games. We did it against the Rockets, yes, but as Williams points out, the Spurs are not the Rockets.
All we can do is hope.
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Layton Shumway is the copy chief for Brigham Young University’s Daily Universe newspaper. You can reach him at lss83@byu.net.
May 23rd, 2007 at 2:13 pm
This series is dreadful to watch. Any Jazz fan has to be discouraged.
This was a great article. Thanks for your thoughts. I must say that I hate the Spurs. Yes, I know, they are classy. SO WHAT! They do have a few very likable players, namely Ginobili and Parker. But Tim Duncan, i.e. “I have never committed a foul” Duncan and Bruce Bowen are enough to make anyone angry.
I will give them this gem: They are everything the Jazz wish they could have been with Stockton to Malone. It is ironic that they patterned their organization after ours, only they do it way better.
Go Jazz. We will win game 3; I just don’t know if it is will be enough.
May 23rd, 2007 at 6:20 pm
I am not ready to count the Jazz out. But I admit, it is very hard to think anything other than a quick exit is in the cards.
Go Jazz.
May 23rd, 2007 at 11:42 pm
I think the Jazz have given the Spurs way too much respect in this series. Sure the Spurs are a proven tested team with multiple championships under their belts. But that doesn’t mean you come out and play with that attitude. It seems the Jazz haven’t believed that they can compete with these guys. In both games, as soon as the Spurs have started to make a run the Jazz have folded faster than a lawn chair. Come on we all know the Jazz a much better team than they have shown so far. What happened to the team that had one of the best records against the best teams in the league durring the season. The Jazz are a young and talented team and should be playing relaxed because they have nothing to loose. If the Jazz get back to having some fun out there they can easily put the pressure back on the Spurs were it should have been all along.
By the way, Jerry Sloan better rethink his second quarter substitution scheme because it has killed us in the last two games. If the Jazz are going to have a chance the bench players have to make an impact on the game other than giving the Spurs a 20 point lead. Our starters obviously can’t play the entire game so lets hope the bench can at least keep it close next game.
May 24th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
I’m going with McSean on this. It looks bleak…really bleak, but so did the end of the season. We can turn it around, but we need to play like we’re getting eliminated, becasue we lose either of these games in Utah and it will be over. Look for Kirilenko to go off on saturday! I’m predicting a very big game from AK, he has so much heart, and really he and Deron are the only ones playing like they really want this. Sloan needs also to bring in Dee Brown, Crowd favorite tons of energy, good change of pace, I think ESA would Explode!
GO JAZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 24th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I think the “clog the lane” comment is ludicrous. What have we been doing? Exactly that! I see four or five players every time Ginobili or Parker get a quarter step on whoever is guarding them. That is what is leading to the three pointers by Barry and Bowen where they have enough time to put on some rouge before they shoot! Clogging the lane is what the Jazz have done as long as i can remember and it has NEVER worked. Wide open three for Kerr! Remember that? I sure do. Neither Parker or Ginobili have been killing us with their points, it is their assists to Bowen, Barry and OBERTO!
And I think saying Boozer is average defensively is offensive to all the average defensive players out there. I can not count how many times he just watches as the guy he is supposed to rotate to cans a three or someone back cuts him. He has also had several TERRIBLE “just slap at it” fouls that could have easily led to three point plays and did a couple times. I think Sloan needs to figure out that we need to only rotate one man to stop a slasher and not send the whole team. We can cover up one hole, but we can’t cover up three or four.
Duncan has been playing great and there really isn’t much we can do about it. Personally, I think Arajuo should be on him when Memo isn’t. I am not sure why he rode the pine the entire last game. This isn’t the Warriors and we should be using all 12 of our fouls with Arajuo and Collins. And please lord guard Bowen in the corner. It is all he can make. Just two spots on the floor you have to guard him. He is inept in every other spot. GARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
May 24th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
I don’t know that it is our substitution scheme as much as it is Sloan’s philosophy on calling timeout. It is so interesting to watch Pops in contrast to Jerry. As soon as the Jazz score 2 or 3 baskets in a row the Spurs always call a timeout. Sloan never likes to use timeouts early and we continue to get hammered in the second quarter. Especially with a young team like the Jazz, I think that Sloan needs to use some early timeouts, to make sure we don’t loose focus and loose the game in the second quarter.
May 24th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
I suppose I should clarify a bit. I didn’t mean to sound so pessimistic. It’s true that we can win the next two at home and tie things up. We can do the same thing we did in the first round against Houston. It’s not without precedent, a team coming back from down 2-0 in the conference finals. Very rare, but not impossible.
I still have hope. We’ll see how we feel after Game 3.