Spurs in 3rd Finals in 5 years after routing uninspired Jazz
SAN ANTONIO: Tim Duncan and Tony Parker powered an early 14-0 spurt and the San Antonio Spurs cruised past the Utah Jazz 109-84 and into the National Basketball Association (NBA) finals on Wednesday for the third time in five years.
The Spurs took all the suspense out of it by taking a 23-point lead early in the second quarter.
Although Utah got an emotional lift at halftime when Derek Fisher arrived from New York, where his infant daughter was getting medical care for a rare eye condition, the only thing in doubt by then was whether San Antonio will play the Detroit Pistons or Cleveland Cavaliers in the finals.
The finals begin a week from Thursday in San Antonio, regardless of who comes out of the East. The Pistons-Cavaliers series is tied 2-2, with Game 5 on Thursday in Detroit.
"It's great, it's about the journey," Duncan said. "Last year we had a tough finish, this year to come back, put the team together and to go through three really, really good teams to get here, it's tremendous."
Having a nine-day layoff before the next round was part of the motivation behind San Antonio's get-it-over-with approach to Game 5. After all, the Spurs have the oldest roster in the league, so they're both wise enough to value not giving the underdogs any hope and eager to avoid another trip to Utah.
San Antonio led only 16-11 when the game-breaking stretch began with Parker cutting through several big guys and making a tough layup. Over the next 2:13, Parker had seven more points, plus a perfect lob that Duncan slammed with as much authority as he ever does.
Then Bruce Bowen capped the blitz with a 3-pointer from the left corner that put the Spurs up 30-11. They'd made eight straight shots, were 12-of-16 for the game, and were outrebounding the Jazz 13-4.
Hitting shots
"Tonight we played great, everybody from the starting five to bench, everybody hit shots," Parker said. "I think we won that game in the first quarter."
Duncan and Parker each finished with 21 points and Manu Ginobili scored only 12. None of them played in the fourth quarter - it was that much of a blowout.
By getting to the finals, San Antonio continues its bizarre trend of dominating the league in odd-numbered years since Duncan arrived for the 1997-98 season. The Spurs won it all in 1999, 2003 and '05, and even came close in the lone exception, losing the 2001 conference finals to the eventual champs, the Los Angeles Lakers.
The looks on the faces of the Jazz players showed their disappointment throughout the game. Andrei Kirilenko ended up leading Utah with 13 points. Deron Williams and Matt Harpring each scored 11. Carlos Boozer had nine on 3-of-10 shooting and Fisher had only two free throws in 15 minutes.
In their first conference finals since 1998, the Jazz were no match for the Spurs, especially in San Antonio.
After taking a seven-point lead in the first quarter of the first game, Utah didn't lead during any of the other 11 quarters played here and has now lost 19 straight games on the Spurs' home court.
Agencies
(China Daily 06/01/2007 page24)
