Spurs With the Sweep

Get out your brooms. The San Anotnio Spurs have swept the Utah Jazz in a very uncompetitive series. Now that we are going to start the second round, things should get interesting. San Antonio, LA, LA, and Oklahoma City is a quality four team playoff. I guess it could still shake out differently though.

Manu Ginobili led the way with 17 points as the Spurs cruised to victory last night. This was the closest game, a 6 point victory, and the Jazz actually had a chance here. All of the other games were double digits victories, including the 31 point blowout in game 2. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan both had 11 points and played their worst games of the postseason so far. The three other starters (Diaw, Leonard, and Green) had a combined 8 points. This was the worst night for the starting five perhaps all season so it was good that Manu stepped up. The fact that the starters only had 29 of the 87 points, shows the depth of this Spurs lineup.

Paul Millsap had an incredible effort in the loss for Utah. He had 19 rebounds. What an amazing effort by Millsap as he dominated the boards. San Antonio did not have a single player in double figures on rebounds. Unfortunately for Millsap he was only 4-17 from the field.

Gary Neal also had 11 points for the Spurs. He was one of the key players off the bench. Neal played just 18 minutes, but he made his impact known. The Utah Jazz sure know who Gary Neal is now. Perhaps the best performance was turned in by Dejuan Blair who had 6 points and 3 rebounds in only 7 minutes of playing time. The Spurs got great efforts from every member of that bench. San Antonio will likely face that LA Clippers next, LA went up 3-1 last night. Looks like Chris Paul stands in the way of San Antonio's 5th NBA title.

-Noland

Spurs Now Take 3-0 Lead

The San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz 102-90 in an extremely late game 3 last night. These Spurs look tough to beat and are showing why they are the #1 seed. No NBA Team has ever overcome a 0-3 deficit to win a best of seven series.

Tony Parker led the way with 27 points. 16 of those points came in the final quarter to lead the Spurs to victory. Parker went a perfect 6 for 6 from the line in the fourth. He also hit all five field goals he attempted. Tough to beat the Spurs when Parker is on like that.

The Spurs got an unexpected spectacular game from Tiago Splitter. He finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds. Performances like this from Splitter will increase the Spurs championship chances drastically.

Tim Duncan, the Spurs best player, had a mild game for him. The greatest power forward of all time finished with 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks. They can win with those numbers, as they showed last night, but they will likely need better against the big boys. That is unless the other guys step up, like Splitter did last night.

The other member of the Big Three, Manu Ginobili, had a very unusual stat line. Ginobili had 6 points, 10 assists, and 5 rebounds. Those totals worked though because the Spurs played brilliant unselfish basketball.

Stephen Jackson and Danny Green both finished with double figures. They scored 13 and 14 points respectively. Man this Danny Green sure looks like a player surrounded by that Big 3.

-Noland

Spurs Make Jazz Look Like A Complete Joke

The San Antonio Spurs made the Utah Jazz look like they had no business in the playoffs. Popovich nearly pulled the starters in the 3rd quarter it got so bad. He did pull many of them. The Spurs got up 36 in the 3rd quarter before finally winning 114-83. This event hardly seemed like a playoff game and the Spurs are just embarrassing the Jazz right now. The NBA cannot wait for this series to be over, because right now it is a terrible product.

Last night's loss was the second worst loss in Jazz playoff history. The 1998 NBA Finals was the last and only time Utah was beaten this badly in the postseason. Al Jefferson even talked about how embarrassing the loss was for the Jazz. Tony Parker led the way for San Antonio with 18 points and 9 assists. The Spurs just play amazing team basketball and went on a 20-0 run in the 2nd quarter. In 2008 the Spurs opened up against Phoenix 2-0 and ended it in 5 games. They have not opened up 2-0 since then, but they look poised to end this series in 5 or less.

San Antonio has now won 12 in a row and will look to make it 13. The Jazz better get it together if they want to have a shot. 23% from the field isn't gonna cut it on any level.

-Noland

Spurs Win Playoff Opener and Playoff Predictions

The San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz in Game 1 106-91. Tim Duncan had a double double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Tony Parker was also a major factor as he had 28 points and 8 assists.

1st Round Predictions
Spurs in 5
Thunder in 6
Lakers in 6
Grizzles in 7
Bulls in 7
Heat in 5
Pacers in 5
Celtics in 7

2nd Round Matchups and Predictions
Spurs over Grizzles in 6
Thunder over Lakers in 6
Celtics over Bulls in 6
Heat over Pacers in 7

Western Conference Finals
Spurs in 6

Eastern Conference Finals
Celtics over Heat in 7

NBA Title
Spurs over Celtics in 5

-Noland