I think we fought all game. They made the turn in the third early, and it was tough to recover from that. We kept working, kept grinding and we made that run at the end. I think we were very close. They got a few free throws at the end, a few calls, but we fought hard. – Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert
SAN ANTONIO — Over the years, tourists have had about as much success finding the Alamo basement as the Utah Jazz have had against the San Antonio Spurs in the AT&T Center.
That changed in November when the Jazz ran out of town after running the Spurs out of their own building in a shocking 15-point victory.
Five months later, Utah made things interesting by almost rallying out of a couple of double-digit deficits, but the Jazz reverted back to their old ways by falling to the Spurs 109-103 in an ABC-televised game.
“Well, I thought we hung in there on the road against one of the best teams,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “We made it a two-possession game at the end.”
Tony Parker, who seems to be back to his old self after missing time with a knee injury this season, put San Antonio up by 14 with two of his 21 points with 5:35 remaining.
But Utah went to work after that, going on a 10-0 run that started with a Gordon Hayward 3-pointer and ended with a Joe Johnson fade-away jumper. That spurt helped the Jazz pull within four of the Spurs at 102-98 with 2:24 to go.
“It’s a long game and we kept talking about that. You just keep playing,” Snyder said. “You get a break here and there, you get a shot, sometimes things break in your favor. It didn’t go all the way that way, but you feel that if you make a run, percentages will catch up to you a bit.”
Unfortunately, the percentages worked in San Antonio’s favor the rest of the way.
Backup Jonathon Simmons connected on an alley-oop layup with Pau Gasol, and Kyle Anderson hit two free throws to stretch the lead to eight.
Utah pulled back within four again a couple of times after that, but Parker clinched it at the foul line with 25.2 seconds left.
“I think we fought all game,” Jazz center Rudy Gobert said after totaling 19 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots. “They made the turn in the third early, and it was tough to recover from that. We kept working, kept grinding and we made that run at the end. I think we were very close. They got a few free throws at the end, a few calls, but we fought hard.”
Both teams were missing major players, but George Hill’s absence seemed to affect the Jazz more than the Spurs being without LaMarcus Aldridge (thumb) and Manu Ginobili (rest).
Hill, who’s out with a strained right groin, scored 22 points in Utah’s 106-91 win here in November. The only court appearance he made this time around happened after the final buzzer when he chatted with Gregg Popovich, who was his coach when he played for the Spurs from 2008-11.
Utah especially missed Hill’s defense in a game in which the Spurs (59-17) shot 51.9 percent. The Jazz had a decent offensive game — despite a 6-of-19 outing by Gordon Hayward — but couldn’t overcome falling behind by so much on two separate occasions.
The third quarter especially proved to be detrimental for the Jazz, who watched helplessly as Kawhi Leonard exploded for 19 of his 25 points to push a two-point Spurs halftime lead to 10.
“He got hot, and it’s just things that he’s been doing all season,” Jazz forward Boris Diaw said of Leonard. “He’s a tough player when he’s playing that way.”
Diaw, who played for San Antonio from 2012-16, had his best offensive game in a Jazz uniform with 19 points on 9-of-9 shooting.
The loss dropped 47-30 Utah’s lead for the No. 4 spot over the resting Clippers (47-31) to a half-game with five contests remaining, including Tuesday’s home outing vs. Portland.