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The San Antonio Spurs are basketball's reigning champs and coach Gregg Popovich is almost universally considered the best in the game. He's a smart guy and someone not exactly known for pulling punches.

And, for what it's worth, he believes the Utah Jazz are going to be OK.

"As they get used to the system things are just going to get better and better," Popovich told reporters before tipoff Tuesday night. "It takes time to put in a new system. They've got a new group, new coach and all that sort of thing. It's not easy. It's hard to win a game in the NBA."

There's no exact formula, he continued, for when a change might take hold.

"It depends on people," he said. "Different people get it at different times. But what's important is to keep on pushing and being persistent, and I know that's what Quin [Snyder] is. He's going to be persistent. He knows what wins and loses. But things take time to take root and everybody figures it out at a different time really."

Along the way, said the five-time NBA champion, confidence-boosting wins help.

Maybe one would come with a win over the Clippers.

Maybe against Oklahoma City.

Maybe even later that night against the Spurs.

"That will happen because they're good people," Popovich said. "They're good young players. Quin knows what he's doing. Dennis [Lindsey] is a great leader and really understands the big picture. So it's going to be nothing but hopeful and successful as time goes on. You just have to be patient."

So maybe Popovich saw last night's 100-96 win for the Jazz coming.

San Antonio was without point guard Tony Parker and center Tiago Splitter. But at this point, any win is a good win for the rebuilding Jazz.

Gordon Hayward out-dueled Kawhi Leonard for one night and continued to take on his coach's challenge on the defensive end of the floor.

The Jazz held the Spurs to under 100 points.

"I think for the most part, we were really solid defensively," Hayward said. "Especially in the first half that was huge. We didn't get down by 20 points tonight, which has kind of been our calling card."

Derrick Favors rebounded from a slow start to finish with 21 points. He also had two blocks and maybe could have or should have notched two more if not for some unfavorable calls by the officials down the stretch.

Enes Kanter had 12 points and 15 rebounds. Meanwhile, the Turkish big man, who has often been criticized for his defensive deficiencies, had a team-best defensive rating of 82.2 in 30 minutes on the floor.

Coincidentally, it would be the third time in franchise history the Jazz snapped a nine-game losing streak with a win over the San Antonio Spurs. It happened before in the 1983 and 2005 seasons.

The win helped Utah avoid the team's worst losing streak in three decades and it was a much-needed reward for a struggling team and a first-year NBA head coach.

Popovich is also a believer in Snyder, whom he worked with for three seasons when Snyder was the coach of the Spurs' D-League affiliate in Austin.

"He was around as much as he possibly could be," Popovich said. "If there wasn't something going on, he was in our coaches' meetings, on the practice floor with us, talking about strategies and arguing about pick-and-roll defense and what kind of offenses we wanted to run. He was a big part of what we did when we tried to lay out how we wanted to play for that season."

For Snyder, who had left Missouri in somewhat tumultuous fashion the year prior, the head coaching job in the D-League was perhaps less glamorous than his previous job but nevertheless extremely important.

"That experience and my involvement and acceptance in that program came at a time for me that was incredibly impactful," Snyder said. "I owe Coach Pop and [Spurs general manager R.C. Buford] a lot for that opportunity."

In the third quarter Tuesday, Popovich stomped onto the court and yelled at the officials until he was given two quick technical fouls and ejected from the game. So he wasn't on the bench when the streamers fell from the rafters at EnergySolutions Arena.

Afterward, he offered more praise for a Jazz team that for now can only dream of the things Popovich and the Spurs have accomplished.

"I thought the Jazz did a great job tonight," he said. "I thought that they were very aggressive. I thought they were patient, they executed well. They played better than we did in almost every facet of the game. They looked really good and they deserved to win for sure."

Of Favors' performance, he said: "He's a tough cover. He and Kanter, they play hard. They can be 20-0 or 0-20 and those guys are going to come out and get after you. They're going to go after every rebound, they're going to execute, they're going to do what the coach asks them to do. That's just like I said, they have a great character group, and they did a wonderful job."

Then he was asked about the Jazz going forward.

"They're going to be a fine basketball team," he said. "Management knows what it's doing. Quin's great knowing what to do as a coach. They have a good staff, good young players, great character. They're only going to get better."

Jazz fans certainly hope he's right.

— Aaron Falk