Despite losing to the Utah Jazz just four days prior, the San Antonio Spurs appeared to be back in full form as they easily defeated Utah in the teams’ second contest of the week.
The Utah Jazz looked brilliant in their short-lived two-game winning streak which featured wins over the San Antonio Spurs on the road on Tuesday and a runaway victory against the Mavericks the following night.
But unfortunately the Jazz had the misfortune of having to play a staunch Spurs team for the second time in just four days. And while Utah looked incredible in Tuesday’s victory, you can bet that loss did not sit well with San Antonio. They came out firing on all cylinders as they ran away with a stifling 100-86 win in Friday night’s contest in Salt Lake City.
And to be honest, the game wasn’t even as close as the final score indicated.
“The fact that they just beat us is hopefully going to fuel us. It’s going to be an important game for us. We want to change the image that stayed in our head after this game.” – Manu Ginobili prior to Friday’s game against the Jazz
I tried to be optimistic heading into Friday’s game, but after burning the Spurs for their first home loss to the Jazz in nearly ten years, I think we all kind of saw this coming.
The angry Spurs team had two days to dwell on their loss then showed up in Salt Lake with the intention of doling out sweet revenge. And they did so impeccably.
The Spurs simply dominated every facet of the game. While the Jazz got off to a promising 10-2 start, San Antonio quickly responded with a huge 25-7 run to go into the second quarter up 27-17.
And they never looked back from there.
The Jazz were able to cut the lead to seven early in the second quarter, but for the most part it just kept on growing. It seemed like the Spurs couldn’t miss a mid-range jumper and their swarming defense and crisp ball movement that were both notably absent in Tuesday’s contest were in full force on Friday night.
San Antonio finished the game shooting a highly efficient 44.6 percent from the field, compared to Utah’s 37.5 percent. And even on San Antonio’s misses they seemingly always found a way to convert after the fact. At the end of the third quarter, they held a commanding 20-2 advantage in second chance points.
Ironically, the Spurs converted on the exact same number of threes as they did in Tuesday’s loss, going just 6-of-20 (30 percent), while the Jazz were relatively hot from three finishing 11-of-26 (42.3 percent). But unfortunately Utah simply struggled in too many other areas to be able to overcome the Spurs.
Final: Jazz 86, Spurs 100#SASatUTA pic.twitter.com/0qkbu27tz5
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 5, 2016
First off, after dominating the Spurs on the boards on Tuesday 37-30, San Antonio flipped that advantage in Friday’s contest, out-rebounding the Jazz 49-42.
This was largely related to poor performances by both Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors. Gobert finished with eight rebounds (which isn’t bad, but also isn’t great for him) as well as just five points on 2-of-2 shooting. He also shot terribly from the free throw line (1-of-4) as did the rest of the team as Utah finished just 62.5 percent (15-of-24) from the charity stripe.
Favors meanwhile had just six points on a putrid 3-of-13 shooting night. Furthermore, while Utah’s bench was a key part of their success in the earlier win over San Antonio, they looked completely lost in Friday’s contest. The five players that came off the bench shot 8-of-32 (25 percent) from the field.
It’s also worth noting that while George Hill wasn’t awful by any means, he didn’t have as strong of a performance as Jazz fans had grown accustomed to after his first five games. He started the game getting into quick foul trouble and ended with 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
Realizing that Hill had man-handled them in the first bout, San Antonio was obviously prepared for him this time around. Rodney Hood had a better game than Hill, notching 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting, but he similarly struggled with foul trouble and the Spurs were clearly ready for him as well.
The combination of the Jazz’s poor shooting, weak rebounding, dismal bench play and inability to stop the Spurs from getting open looks and easy baskets all led to Utah’s demise.
Yet the Spurs also certainly deserve to receive credit where it’s due for their outstanding performance. In the Jazz’s win on Tuesday, San Antonio got little contribution from any player outside of Kawhi Leonard. This time around, while Leonard was once again fabulous in the Spurs’ win putting in 29 points, San Antonio also benefited from incredible performances by the likes of LaMarcus Aldridge and Patty Mills.
Aldridge finished with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting and made absolute light work of Derrick Favors and the other Jazz defenders in the paint. Mills knocked in four of the Spurs’ six three-pointers and ended the night with a solid 16-point effort.
So there’s no doubt that it was a very tough loss for the Jazz and a bit of a reality check. Tuesday’s road win was a big victory, but it definitely appeared that Utah caught the Spurs a little off guard that night.
They looked much more like themselves on Friday and showed just what kind of force they’re capable of being and how tough they really are to beat when they’re playing at their best.
Nevertheless, especially considering that the Jazz are still missing last year’s leading scorer, Gordon Hayward, they should take pride in knowing they were able to at least win one game against the Spurs this week. With how they had looked in their first three games, I had actually anticipated earlier in the week that they would drop both games. Therefore, maintaining their .500 record thus far is still a huge plus in this young season.
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And now Utah will look toward their five-game eastern road trip that begins Sunday with a bout against the Knicks at 10:00 AM MT. While each of Utah’s next five opponents will be hypothetically less daunting than the battle-hardened San Antonio Spurs, it will be critical to see how the Jazz respond to playing in such a long road trip.
In recent years, the Jazz have struggled on the road, but the insertion of veterans such as George Hill and Joe Johnson should help them feel more confident in these visiting arenas.
So even though Friday’s loss was disappointing, there’s plenty to be encouraged about moving forward. And if the Jazz can show their mettle by coming out with a winning record on their Eastern Conference road trip, it will put them in a great position once Hayward returns to close out the rest of the month of November.
All stats courtesy of NBA.com