Spurs 106, Jazz 83
SAN ANTONIO — Bubbly back on ice. Cancel confetti. Postpone parade, or whatever it is you have, if anything, to celebrate an NBA division championship.
The Jazz's quest to clinch the Midwest Division crown was put on hold for at least another day by the defending NBA-champion San Antonio Spurs, who stayed mathematically eligible to win the Midwest by routing Utah 106-83 on Saturday night at the Alamodome.
The loss was the third in four games for the Jazz, who aren't exactly making things easy on themselves as the regular season winds down.
"We didn't deserve to win this one — not playing the way we did, especially with a division title on the line," said the Jazz's Karl Malone, whose game-high 23 points and team-high 11 rebounds weren't enough against a Spurs team that had six scorers finish in double figures. "They did everything to win this game. They came out and played hard from the start."
The Jazz, simply stated, did not.
"They beat us, and beat us soundly," guard John Stockton said after Utah sustained its third-worse loss, points-wise, of the season. "We have everything to gain and nothing to take out of this one. Give them credit."
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan did just that after watching the Spurs romp — even without injured scoring-leader Tim Duncan, who sat out his second straight game to rest a left knee pained by a partial cartilage tear.
Sloan expressed amazement that the Spurs had their way despite varying degrees of injury to three who did play: David Robinson (sore right knee and pinched neck nerve), Duncan's replacement Samaki Walker (dislocated finger) and Sean Elliott (mildly sprained right and left ankles).
"I told our guys (Saturday) morning: 'If you buy into that (the injury woes), you're going to find yourself really in trouble,' " Sloan said. "And we did.
"That one guy (Elliott, who had 15) — I don't know where he got his other leg, because on two sprained ankles he . . . drove around us like we had four sprained ankles."
Sloan was astonished that the Jazz let the Spurs run things the way they did, leading by 11 at half (51-40), running their advantage to as many as 20 (71-51) late in the third quarter, and then to as many as 23 early in the fourth and again at the end.
"Once they picked up that 8-point lead in the second (quarter), their confidence really got up," said Jazz guard Jeff Hornacek, who scored 13. "They were able to turn that into a big lead, and it's tough to play with any confidence of your own when you are down by 15 or more."
It didn't help that Brron Russell produced just 4 points on 2-of-9 shooting out of the small-forward spot, and that the Jazz's two centers, Olden Polynice and Greg Ostertag, combined for just five rebounds while Robinson, who scored a team-high 19, pulled down a dozen himself.
"They annihilated us," Sloan said. "Defensively, they wouldn't let us get any decent shots. They just stopped everything we tried. We started back on the whole routine of taking outside jump shots, and not making them have to play any defense. And they were doing all the defense. So they certainly deserved to win - in one of the biggest games we played all year long, by the way.
"They wanted it more than we did. They out-hustled us, outplayed us, out-coached us, and did everything you have to do in order to win. ... They took everything away from us. They got all the loose balls. We couldn't catch a basketball out there. They just wanted it more than we did."
Jazz players seemed to accept the blame, though explanations as to how and why it happened were few and far between.
"I don't think we played one of our better games tonight," reserve forward Armen Gilliam said. "I think they really out-hustled us, and outworked us. ... Especially inside, they played with a lot more passion, hustle and determination than we did."
"We deserved to lose," Russell added. "And I was horrible."
"When you have 18 turnovers (to San Antonio's 11) and a whole lot of other mistakes like that," Malone said, "you don't deserve to win a ballgame."
All the Jazz can do now, then, is look ahead.
"We have to pull it together," Russell said, "and I'm sure we will."
"We're moving on," Stockton said.
On to Phoenix, where the Jazz can once again — with a win — clinch the division.
"I don't know what it is," Hornacek said, "but we better get it back quickly here."
Utah needs only one win in its final three games (against the Suns tonight, at Denver on Tuesday and at home against Sacramento on Wednesday), or have San Antonio lose one its last two (vs. Vancouver and the Los Angeles Lakers) to take the division title, and the No. 2 seed for the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs that goes with it.
"I sure would like to win one of these on the road," Malone said, "and not have it come down to the last one at home."
Worse comes to worse, though, it wouldn't be a bad place to party. If that's what you do.
NOTES: John Stockton has passed Paul Silas and moved alone into seventh place on the NBA's list of all-time games played. Saturday's game vs. the Suns was No. 1,255 for Stockton, who has played more than any active player in the league. . . . Karl Malone's 23 points leaves his 19 shy of joining Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only two players in NBA history to score 30,000 or more career points. . . . Three games after returning from a two-game absence to rest his surgically repaired left knee, Jeff Hornacek said he is felling, and moving, better. Hornacek's 13 points Saturday are 5 more than he combined to score in those first two games back.