Utah Jazz: 4 Keys to Knock Off the San Antonio Spurs

A mere 24 hours after a respectably close but definitive loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the Utah Jazz will have a chance to for some quick revenge on their home floor.

Utah squares off against San Antonio in the second half of a home-and-home series that Utah desperately needs to keep their waning playoff hopes alive. 

For a struggling Jazz squad to have any chance of knocking off the hottest team in the league and the winners of 11 straight, they will need to excel in these four key areas. 

Contain Tony Parker

Combine a dash of poor penetration defense with a heaping of Tony Parker’s superb ability to get to the rim, and you have a potential recipe of disaster for Utah.

Parker has always given Utah headaches and is having one of his best years in 2012. Devin Harris, who has never been known for his superb one-on-one defense, will have to do a
much better job fighting through screens and staying in front of Tony. 

Since the Jazz's best defensive point guard Earl Watson left the Sunday night game early, Harris and third-string point guard Jamaal Tinsley both need to dramatically step up their defensive efforts. 

Win the Battle of the Boards

Utah’s greatest strength in this shortened season has been their frontcourt depth. This obviously translates to success on the boards most nights. 

Though Utah’s starting big men Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson are both in the top 20 in the league in rebounds per game, the rebounding advantage was nowhere to be found in Sunday night’s loss to San Antonio.

As the Spurs have advantages in so many other aspects of the game, Utah cannot afford to have one of its biggest strengths neutralized again. 

Utah was out-rebounded 45-39 in the first half of this home-and-home matchup. If that result is repeated, Utah will more than likely find themselves sitting at .500 and watching their playoff chances float away. 

Defend the 3-Pointer

Though the Jazz still lack a lockdown perimeter defender, they’ve actually done a more than respectable job of defending against the three-point shot, ranking 12th in the league in opponents’ three-point percentage. 

The Spurs are no slouches themselves when it comes to hitting threes. In fact, they’re the best team in the league from behind the arc percentage-wise. 

Utah did a great job holding the Spurs to 6-of-22 shooting (27 percent) from downtown in Sunday night’s loss, including holding Manu Ginobili to 1-of-6 and usual Jazz murderer Matt Bonner to 1-of-4 from beyond the arc. 

Utah will need another great effort to thwart San Antonio’s deep threat and prevent them from gathering any momentum. 

Significant Bench Contribution

One of the key factors responsible for Utah’s unexpected success in 2012 is the impressive depth and lack of drop-off they have from player one to player 10. Many a 2011-2012 win has been due in large part to Utah’s bench overmatching their opponent’s bench. 

Frankly, that bench production has been non-existent in Utah’s last few games. 

Rookie standout Alec Burks seems to have hit a rookie wall of sorts and has gone cold.  Rookie big-man Enes Kanter has seen his statistical contributions and consequently his playing time shrivel up. Reserve DeMarre Carroll had a sensational game Sunday night, scoring 16 points and hitting 3-of-4 shots from long range, but has not seen significant minutes all season.

Besides the aforementioned point-guard mismatch, San Antonio matches up so well with Utah because they’re a very deep team themselves. Stephen Jackson and DeJuan Blair were both DNP-CD’s Sunday night, and they could easily start on many other NBA teams. 

Utah has to win the battle of the second units if they want any shot at stealing tonight’s game.