Utah Jazz 84 San Antonio Spurs 100 Recap Dec 14 2013

First quarter started out ugly, for both teams. The execution was good, we just didn't hit the shots like we did last game. The Spurs finished the quarter with a good defensive stand and had the lead 23-17 at the end of one. The Spurs executed the Jazz to death in the second to take a 55-40 half time lead. Watching Parker and Duncan in the two man game is amazing. It reminds me of Stockton and Malone. Just saying. The Utah Jazz started the second half on a 5-0 run cutting the lead to 55-45. The Spurs went back to the the Parker/Duncan PNR to push the lead to 16 68-52 at the 4:52 mark in the third. John Lucas hit a three near the end of the third to cut the Spurs lead to 80-66. The Spurs never looked back and finished us off 100-84

Three Positives

Gordon Hayward's court vision-

He sees the game like a point guard. Example. With about a minute left in the half, Gordon and Favors ran a PNR. Duncan came up to cover Gordon at the free throw line extended, which allowed Favors to cut to the basket. Gordon did not have a direct angle or lane to pass the ball, instead of throwing the ball back out, he threw the ball into open space in front of Favors. Favors was left with an open dunk. He makes a couple of passes a game like this.

Turnovers-  With the ball being in Burke's hands more the Jazz are not turning the ball over as much as the beginning of the year.

Evans Role as a Rotational Player-

He is rebounding and playing solid defense.  Will he have a long term role with the team? I don't know. However, he will find a spot on an NBA team here is stats so far this year. He had 11 rebounds and is slowly learning how to play in the offense. In 12 games this year he has equaled his total FGA for the past two seasons combined.

Three Negatives.

Shooting percentage-

It was very poor in the first half 41%.  I don't know if we can attribute this to the back to back, Spurs defense, tired legs, or a combination of all three. It wasn't just jumpers either, we missed some bunnies also.

Helping the helper-

This is more of a complement to the Spurs ball movement, but the rotations were slow. The Pick and Roll defense has to be better. We looked a little over matched which is expected playing the best team in the west, and the most consistent team of the past decade.

Lack of Assists-

Ball movement was not so good. Granted we were playing against the league's best defense, or one of them. The spacing was off, the offense looked broken, and the timing wasn't there.  Per Utah Jazz twitter "Jazz with just 17 assists tonight... have not won this year when failing to reach 20 assists."