Spurs, Jazz Preview

It will come down to guard play in tonights game. / AP Photo

Fansided.Com — The last time these two teams met we came out with a 106-100 win. In that game the big three scored 61 points. Tim Duncan at the time was healthy and scored 24. Tony Parker also dropped 24. Ginobili finished with just 13 in the game but hit some key free throws in the fourth period that put the team on top.

As many people know or have seen watching the Spurs our problem for years has been the free throw line. In the playoffs last year and the year before we struggled at the line and that is our achilles heel, so what I can see.

As we take the floor against the Utah Jazz on Friday night the big three will not be in attendance. Well Tony Parker, healthy will be there, Tim Duncan not 100% will be there and we all know what the deal is with Ginobili, GINOBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLIIIIIIII!!!!

Duncan controlled the paint down low in Utah. He had some battles with Okur and I see Utah banging Duncan more Friday night to really get him off of his game. The way I see it, it is going to come down to the guard play, more importantly the point guards.

Tony Parker and Deron Williams are both leading their teams in scoring. Tony with a 21.8 average is good to hit for 30 on any night. Williams for Utah is averaging just under 20, at 19.2.

Parker the lone healthy trio points out that injury woes can’t concern the team nor him.

“People don’t realize Timmy’s been playing on one leg for like a month and a half,” Parker said. “We can’t pay attention to that. We just have to take a challenge and play harder.”

The Jazz haven’t posed much of a challenge to the Spurs in San Antonio over the last decade. They’ve dropped 19 straight road games against the Spurs by an average of 16.1 points since their last win in San Antonio on Feb. 28, 1999.

Utah doesn’t look prepared to end that streak, having dropped seven of its last nine on the road, where it’s 15-24 this season. The Jazz have also lost four of five overall after falling 130-101 at Dallas on Wednesday night.

“It was like they wanted it more, like the game meant more to them. It’s disappointing,” said point guard Deron Williams, who led Utah with 18 points and 12 assists but went 5-for-14 from the field.

Their defeat dropped the Jazz into a tie with the Dallas Mavericks for seventh place in the conference with four games remaining on their schedule.

The Jazz lost their first game in San Antonio this season 119-94 in large part because Williams and star forward Carlos Boozer sat out with injuries. Boozer, averaging 14.9 points and 10.2 rebounds over his last 13 games, also missed a 106-100 home loss to San Antonio on Jan. 27.

[ Season Team Stats ]