NBA Playoff Predictions 2012: Why the San Antonio Spurs Will Sweep the Utah Jazz

The San Antonio Spurs are playing like the best team in the NBA and will beat the inferior Utah Jazz to complete a first-round series sweep. 

The Spurs will visit the Jazz at 8 p.m. ET on Monday night leading the matchup three games to none. It won’t be a party in Salt Lake City. 

Before the NBA playoffs even started, I stated that this series will be one of the most disappointing first-round matchups in the Association.

I wrote,"The real Big Three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili will crush Utah. It won’t even be close.” 

So far, I’m right. 

San Antonio has come out and played like the best team in the league while the Jazz have looked like a team that barely squeaked into the postseason. 

At the end of the day, the Spurs have higher hopes then a second-round series, and they should dismantle Utah with ease. 

It was an accomplishment for Al Jefferson and company just to sneak into the playoffs, and no one expected to them to be competitive.  

Utah is a young team and will be better in future years, but San Antonio is the best team in the NBA and is peaking at the right time. 

Utah has lost the first three games by 58 points combined with Tony Parker absolutely exploding for 24.3 points per game. 

The Beehive State will just be a minuscule obstacle on the Spurs' quest for the championship. This game might be closer then the others just because of the determination of Paul Millsap and his team to not got swept. 

But this was a mismatch from the start. The veteran presence of Tim Duncan and his buddies is way too much for the inexperienced Jazz to even begin to handle. 

I would like to see this young team get a playoff victory under its belt, but this is a Spurs squad that is far too dominant to let that happen. 

Prediction: The first half is close, and San Antonio takes a six-point lead into the locker room. But the Spurs start pulling away halfway through the third quarter, and the Jazz emotionally shuts down.

The home crowd gets Utah back in the game, but it is too little too late, and Gregg Popovich’s team wins by 14 to seal the series shut.