If any team in the NBA is a mystery this year, it's the San Antonio Spurs. They win eight straight games but lose two big ones to Seattle and Atlanta. They beat Denver, then run up against the Jazz and come out looking like last month's leftovers. In the first meeting between the Midwest Division rivals this year, the Jazz walked away with a 102-87 win, Monday night at the Delta Center.
From Dennis Rodman's tattoos to Dale Ellis' streaky shooting to David Robinson's quiet efficiency, the Spurs are indeed a strange brew. Some nights they look like a serious challenger to make the NBA Finals, others they look like a car with no steering wheel."It's a matter of being mentally tough," said the Spurs' J.R. Reid. "We look at the other teams around the league, and we have more talent. It's just a matter of getting it all together."
For all the talk about the Spurs' talent, they remain a collection of sometimes disparate parts. Rodman gets his 19 rebounds a night and pretends he's playing on a court with no hoops. (He went 0-4 shooting against the Jazz and has taken only 78 shots in 21 games.) Ellis, one of the best 3-point shooters in the league, can devastate the opposition, yet sometimes fades into a sullen funk - as he did against the Jazz - and quietly drops out of sight. (He finished 3-of-8 for seven points.) And Robinson continues to have nights when he appears to lack any burning desire to win important games.
"We turned the ball over a lot of times. We didn't pick up balls that we left in question for the referees to decide which way the ball would go," said Spurs coach John Lucas. "It's going to be a nemesis for us for awhile this year, until we can get used to winning these types of games or play these games a little bit differently down the stretch. It's very disheartening, though."
Apparently so. Lucas spent 25 minutes chewing out his team after the game, but afterward said he had no comment on what was said.
Considering the Spurs' weirdness quotient, Monday's events weren't entirely surprising. Rodman, his hair dyed a festive red for the holidays, skipped the morning shoot-around, claiming he was ill. Though he did ride to the game with the team, he remained in the locker room, skipping warmups. He arrived courtside just in time for the national anthem.
Once the game began, Rodman was in standard form, woofing at other players, yammering at the officials, and dominating the boards, finishing with 20 for the night.
Though the theatrical Rodman never caused any major scenes, he wasn't exactly invisible, either. He spent most of the night slouching around with his shirt undone, tugging at his uniform and walking his way up the court. During one second-quarter play, he chased a loose ball as it went out of bounds near the scorer's table, squeezing it between his hands before handing it slowly to an official. He then bent down in the officials' face and nodded, saying, "Yeah. OK. Right."
Rodman wasn't the only one doing strange - or at least attention-getting - things. Lucas drew a second-quarter technical for being out of the coach's box, then over-compensated by walking to the extreme other end of the bench to make a point. Late in the game he picked up his second technical and headed for the dressing room. But upon realizing the first technical wasn't for unsportsmanlike conduct, he returned to the court to coach the final 1:56 of the game.
Strangest of all, though, was Reid's sudden point explosion. After the Jazz built a 13-point lead early in the second period, Reid went wild on offense. Oddly, the 13 points he scored in the quarter were only two shy of his season high - for a game.
Five free throws near the end of the third quarter and a disputed buzzer shot by Jay Humphries put the Jazz ahead by five going into the fourth quarter.
The matter was decided early in the final period when Karl Malone started hitting outside jumpers and the Spurs committed eight crucial turnovers. Malone finished with a game-high 27 points, while Tom Chambers and John Stockton added 16 apiece.
A 9-0 run put the Jazz up 91-78 with four minutes remaining.
"After a couple of calls that we felt we should have gotten, I think we just broke down mentally and we lost a little bit of our focus," said Reid. "We didn't concentrate the last 10 minutes or so."
If the Spurs are struggling to find themselves, they aren't alone. The Jazz, who have won seven straight at home, have lost three straight and four of their last five road games. Which isn't good news, considering they embark Tuesday on a five-game road swing. Last weekend they dropped road games at Denver and Golden State.
"We knew we couldn't afford three losses in a row when we're going on the road," said Jeff Malone, who added 15 points.
Said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, "On the road you've got to play with a lot more concentration, not have your ups and downs. You've got to try to be consistent every possession."
GAME NOTES: The Jazz and Spurs meet four more times this season, the next one being Dec. 23 in San Antonio . . . Last year the teams split their six-game series . . . Utah holds a 46-44 all-time series edge but is ahead 35-10 at home . . . Jeff Malone needs four more games to reach 800 for his career. His two assists gave him 2,000 for his career . . . Spur Antoine Carr missed the game with a bad ankle.