San Antonio at Utah: Game 3 Recap
Duncan picks up fouls and the Jazz pick up a W
By Vincent Thomas
– So much was made about the Jazz being down 4 at the half, even though Tim had only played 12 minutes. On one hand, it was an improvement over their wretched first half performances in San Antonio, but on the other hand how much good could be taken out of a 4 point deficit, at home, with Tim on the bench? Grant Hill predicted that a rested Duncan was going to be a nightmare for the Jazz in the second-half. I thought so, too. And then Fisher hit that trey at the six-minute mark of the 3rd to put the Jazz up 62-60 and then Timmy copped an offensive foul on the next play to head to the bench with four fouls; the Jazz were in the penalty with over five minutes left…and it was a wrap.
– There’s not a more complimentary tandem of young stars than the Deron-Boozer joint. It’s a perimeter-interior duo. They’re both even-keeled dudes. And their games are strong. Strong as in thorough and physical and imposing. I’m sure this has been said so much that it’s probably a cliché; but I can’t help but get irritated when I see Bron balling with Snow and Gooden, when it could have been him and Boozer for the next 10 years. Foul.
– The Williams-Parker face-off could realistically mirror what happened in Game 3 for the rest of the series. As good as Deron/Fisher are on the defensive end, they can’t check Parker. And we know Parker can’t even check Tyron Lue, much less Deron, hence Bowen taking that assignment often. Still, Deron is straight bully-footing the Spurs. It seemed like Deron was in the paint all night and with Duncan on the bench or saddled with fouls, there was little to thwart him. Both those kats could literally toss up 30 point games for the rest of the series. For real. The difference between Deron’s Game 3 and Parker’s is that Deron was affecting all aspects of the game. He pushed the pace, he had five steals to disrupt the Spurs offense, his 9 assists were the kind that “fed” his teammates as opposed to Parker swinging the ball for an open teammate (he had 7 dimes). You still kinda expect Pop and the Spurs overall team defense to find an answer for this kid, as dangerous as he is.
– Okur dropped a goose egg. That definitely warrants mentioning.
– Duncan had eight turnovers! …in just 26 minutes. Players react to foul-trouble-reduced minutes on the court differently. Some lose all aggression and play like a tentative pansy. Some get jittery and try to force action, sorta like making up for lost time. Duncan was the latter on Friday.
– By the middle of the fourth quarter, it seemed like the Spurs stopped playing. This is what veteran teams do, specifically in Game 3s when the home team, down 0-2 turns in an adrenaline-charged performance in front of an inspired home crowd and the game gets out of hand. At a certain point, specifically in the Playoffs, a game gets out of reach and the brain switches to preparing for the next game. In this series that spells an ornery Duncan and refocused Spurs squad squaring off against an emboldened Jazz team, which spells a dogfight.
36 Responses to “San Antonio at Utah: Game 3 Recap”
May.28 at 7:18 pm
RedRum says:
Deron is amazing… I love the guy, only Knight could pass such a once every 10 years PG.. and yeah… I get your point about Boozer… I would think LB is switching the TV and laptop off during and after Jazz games…
May.28 at 8:15 pm
niQ says:
deron is mvp of the utah jazz
May.28 at 10:44 pm
SCHOOL DAZE says:
The spurs will win game 4 easily, by the way, am I the only guy who thinks Deron is kinda fat??
May.28 at 10:54 pm
Reno says:
I cant agree more with your comment about TD, he was forcing the action..he kept turning in to the strong side which allows Boozer (or whoever was guarding Tim) to push him to the guards in the backcourt for the steal..Overall, I would love to see new faces on the finals this year, if the Jazz could shackle TD as well as they did on saturday’s game, my wish could come true
May.29 at 12:00 am
jj says:
The refs gave game 4 away… the nba could do with less floppers you know.
May.29 at 12:09 am
Sesa says:
What’s with the ref anywayz? I had a sense they are trying to officiate the crowd instead of officiating the game.
That’s a new term “officiate the crowd”.
May.29 at 12:19 am
Dennard says:
Vince, Tony Parker can play defense. Did you see the Denver series? Ask Allen Iverson, he didn’t shoot 33% by accident.
May.29 at 1:41 am
MOMONEY says:
I was a huge Deron fan and still am but I really wish he played somewhere other then Utah… ANYWHERE!
May.29 at 2:04 am
Co Co says:
How about Atlanta MoMoney? That’s where I wish he played.
May.29 at 2:22 am
Froggiestyle says:
nice game booz but at 1-3 its ova for uta
May.29 at 2:37 am
Holiday says:
That was the biggest joke I’ve ever seen, I was at game 4 and the ref’s screwed the Jazz over so bad! Did anyone else see Ginobli’s Elbow’s they were outta control, we deserve an apology for that it should have been a close game or a jazz blowout seriously! That bull$*%t was ridiculous!
May.29 at 2:38 am
Holiday says:
Stern needs to address the officiating problem like now! How does something like that happen?
May.29 at 5:24 am
whooo! says:
holiday, just curious since you were there, did you see a lotta ppl throwing things? i understand frustrations, but hurling things at players is really unexcusable, and i wanna hope that it was the bad actions of just a few (like w/ the racial slurs hurled at the warriors).
May.29 at 5:26 am
FLUD says:
Holiday’s gonna need a holiday. Man, you can’t get to the line if you don’t drive to the hoop. The utah jazz INVENTED out of control elbows. Try throwin’ some back!!
May.29 at 5:31 am
whooo! says:
and school daze, i think deron looks kinda fat too. kinda like baron davis though. there’s a completely unflattering pic on the daily dime of deron that makes him look pretty damn chunky. the best photo though is the espn b-ball front page, where t-robot is “celebrating” w/ that same face… it shouldn’t be a coincidence that they’re trying to tie-in the transformers movie either.
May.29 at 5:37 am
Sesa says:
Baron Davis ain’t got nothing on Deron Williams in terms of fatness.
May.29 at 5:45 am
whooo! says:
sesa, it’s prolly cuz of the girdle b-diddy wears!
May.29 at 5:52 am
Sesa says:
@Whoo!
So you were sayin’ dat B Diddy looks thinner because of the beard?
May.29 at 5:59 am
whooo! says:
naw sesa, that corset type thing he wears round his waist. the one he showed off after making ak-47 his bitch.
May.29 at 7:16 am
Russ Bengtson says:
Baron’s not fat, he’s just big-boned. Deron Williams needs to consider a new haircut—and maybe some tattoo coverups.
May.29 at 7:17 am
Sesa says:
NBA players wearing corset. That’s a classic moment right there.
May.29 at 7:23 am
Sesa says:
The reports states:
“Utah’s Deron Williams had 27 points and 10 assists in 38 minutes despite having lost eight pounds the last two days while fighting a stomach ailment.”
How fat is he goin to look like when he’s 100% healthy?
May.29 at 9:20 am
DK52 says:
Deron Is not fat at all. He is bulked up and all of the Utah players are weight room fanatics including Harpring, Boozer, Fisher and Deron and regardless of what DWill weighs his crossover is sick. Every game he crosses someone over badly. Ask Rafer Alston, Luther Head, BDiddy, Monta Ellis, Jacque Vaughn and his poor ankles and Bruce Bowen last night. Dude can flat out ball and needs the next Slam cover. The game last night was one of the worst officiating games I have ever seen in my 21 years of living. Both sides got screwed especially Utah. Ginobli got Fisher twice with bows and also got Millsap. 4th Quarter was all Ginobli and the refs gave him all the calls down the stretch. I’m still trying to figure out why Fisher was ejected. Maybe because he looked down at Ginobli. If Ginobli did that stuff against Stephen Jackson he wouldn’t have any teeth left. Spurs will win series because of last night’s poorly called game, but Utah has nothing to be ashamed of. Remember all you people had Utah losing to Houston in 6 games.
May.29 at 9:23 am
DK52 says:
I can’t stand Mike Breen calling the Western Conference Finals. Van Gundy is okay and Jackson is kind of annoying but I wish Dick Stockton, or Kevin Harlan, or Reggie Miller would call the Western Series but I guess those guys only work for TNT.
May.29 at 9:44 am
Sesa says:
@DK52.
I wished Mike Breen stop shouting “BANG!” after a made 3 pointer.
May.29 at 9:53 am
whooo! says:
damn, some jazz fans sure do get defensive…
May.29 at 10:01 am
DK52 says:
Yes that Bang is so annoying as is Knocks it in again. I like Marv Albert’s Yes or Kevin Harlan’s “right between the eyes” or he’s a flame thrower” much better. Maybe they should put Mike Breen with Tony Cornheiser and Mike Turico. That would be a match made in heaven.
May.29 at 10:07 am
Sesa says:
I’ve forgot which one is Tony Cornheiser.
May.29 at 10:12 am
DK52 says:
Cornheiser is actually the bald guy that is on Pardon the Interuption with Mike Wilbon. He’s always holding up signs and he was on the Monday Night Football crew last year. He is soooooo annoying he just sits there and asks the other guys questions all game long. He knows nothing and thinks he’s funny.
May.29 at 10:14 am
DK52 says:
I wonder what channell the Finals will be on this year, that way we will know who will be calling the game. I think it’s on ABC but I’m not sure.
May.29 at 10:22 am
Sesa says:
I’ve never seen that Kornheiser guy calling on NBA games.
May.29 at 10:38 am
DK52 says:
Sesa, Cornheiser has never done an NBA game I said they should pair Breen, with him and Turico to do horse racing or something other than what they do now.
May.29 at 12:38 pm
illydiva says:
I can’t believe yall are talking about Deron being fat. WTF?! That’s a bad boy, fat, tats, bowl cut and all. He is straight killin em’. I shudder to think what he would do if he was “thinner”. Kill that fat foolishness!
May.29 at 8:18 pm
Holiday says:
What does it matter what a player looks like, everybody’s got something to say about D-Will or Boozer, but they made the west final’s and had they got decent call’s they might be heading to the finals big gut, zit face and all! Charles Barkley was chubby in his Prime hence the nickname “round mound of rebound”!
May.29 at 8:24 pm
Holiday says:
And besides if you really wanna talk about apperances take a look at Greg Poppavich! but beside’s that everybody needs to stop hatin on the Jazz!
May.29 at 8:36 pm
Holiday says:
I don’t understand the “Utah is Racist” deal cause we have black people on our team I mean what did they do call them a racial slur and then tell the Jazz players “We don’t mean you” how dumb is that!