This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
For three quarters Wednesday night, the Utah Jazz looked ready to leave behind the losing ways that have followed them through so much of this young season.
Derrick Favors gobbled up rebounds like a future All-Star. Gordon Hayward, playing on an injured right leg, gutted through a poor shooting night to lead his team. The defensive effort the Jazz have talked so much about this year was actually there, holding the vaunted San Antonio Spurs to just 60 points to that point.
But long before the whistle sounded to start the fourth, with Utah holding a seven-point advantage and 75 percent of the way to its second win of the year, Jazz coach Ty Corbin knew what a veteran Spurs team was capable of doing.
"The great thing about a veteran team that's been together for a while, you know what you're going to get every night," he said before the game. "They know how to push each other. They know which buttons to push when things are going will. They know which buttons to push when things aren't going well. So all the adjustments they need to make they can make them on the fly."
The Spurs did just that Friday night at EnergySolutions Arena, slowly turning a 15-point Jazz lead into a 91-82 victory over Utah by the time the final buzzer sounded.
"We played a hard-fought game," Jazz forward Marvin Williams said. "But that team is built for a championship."
Trailing 67-60 coming into the final 12 minutes, San Antonio flexed its muscle when it mattered most.
Boris Diaw opened the quarter with a 3-pointer. Danny Green fired and hit from the left corner. Tony Parker spun around a defender and then hit a reverse layup while being fouled, tying the game with a free throw for one of his game-high 22 points.
Then it was Green again in the corner to give the Spurs the lead.
"Took a little longer to get there, ground it out and found a way to get the tides to turn," said Tim Duncan, who finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Coming off their first win of the season Wednesday night, the Jazz picked right back up where they left off against the New Orleans Pelicans. Forward Richard Jefferson stayed hot from outside, scoring eight of his 14 points in the first quarter.
Favors scored 14 of his 20 points and grabbed 15 of his career-high 18 rebounds in the first 24 minutes. The Jazz forward added three blocks, three steals and two assists.
The Jazz locked in defensively in the third quarter, creating nine turnovers and holding the Spurs to just 19 points in the period. With the Utah big men in foul trouble, rookie center Rudy Gobert provided some nice minutes in the third, grabbing five boards and scoring three of the Jazz's measly 11 bench points.
The performance to that point was enough to inspire some hope.
"We're getting better, that's the biggest thing," said Williams, who broke his nose in the second quarter. "Take a look at the first few games we played and take a look at the way we're playing right now. We're like two different teams out there."
But, of course, three quarters weren't enough.
"Man," Hayward said afterward. "If we could put 48 [minutes] together, we would be a different team right now. The record would be a lot different. We're almost there, just not a full 48. We've got to learn from this."
Instead, the fourth quarter belonged to the Spurs, who improved to 9-1 as the Jazz dropped to 1-9.
Utah hit on just 7 of 23 attempts in the period, while being out rebounded 15-7.
Hayward, in particular, had difficulties finding his stroke. The swingman finished with 15 points on a dreadful 5-of-23 performance, though he insisted his injured right leg had no role in his difficulties.
"They were giving me wide open shots. I was just missing them," he said. "What they did defensively was not leave our shooters. They were basically daring me to shoot the ball or whoever was coming off the pick-and-roll to shoot the basketball and they just weren't falling. They'll fall next game."
Twitter: @tribjazz —
Storylines
O The Jazz are outscored 31-15 in the fourth quarter as they fall to 1-9 on the year.
• Derrick Favors leads the way for the Jazz with 20 points and 18 rebounds.
• Gordon Hayward scores 15 but shoots just 5 for 23 for the game. Spurs 91, Jazz 82
FG FT Reb
S.A. Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Leonard 29:24 3-8 0-0 1-9 1 5 6
Duncan 34:07 7-16 0-1 2-9 2 0 14
Splitter 25:33 2-4 2-2 1-5 0 0 6
Parker 37:34 8-18 6-10 0-0 6 1 22
Green 23:14 3-7 0-0 1-6 1 3 8
Ginobili 30:08 3-9 2-2 2-9 5 2 9
Belinelli 12:52 1-2 1-1 0-0 1 1 3
Ayres 7:45 0-0 2-2 0-0 0 2 2
Diaw 28:13 6-9 4-4 0-5 2 1 17
Mills 10:26 2-3 0-0 0-0 1 0 4
Joseph 0:22 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Baynes 0:22 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 240:00 35-76 17-22 7-43 19 15 91
Percentages: FG .461, FT .773. 3-Point Goals: 4-15, .267 (Green 2-4, Diaw 1-3, Ginobili 1-3, Belinelli 0-1, Mills 0-1, Parker 0-1, Leonard 0-2). Team Rebounds: 4. Team Turnovers: 17 (17 PTS). Blocked Shots: 5 (Duncan 3, Diaw 2). Turnovers: 17 (Parker 5, Ginobili 3, Diaw 2, Leonard 2, Mills 2, Duncan, Green, Splitter). Steals: 8 (Diaw 2, Leonard 2, Ginobili, Mills, Parker, Splitter). Technical Fouls: Duncan, 4:28 second Defensive three second, 4:03 third.
FG FT Reb
Utah Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Jefferson 43:16 5-9 1-2 0-3 1 5 14
Favors 36:32 10-19 0-0 6-18 2 4 20
Kanter 31:55 5-12 0-0 4-9 1 3 10
Burks 29:10 5-12 1-1 0-0 4 5 12
Hayward 43:13 5-23 4-6 1-9 3 1 15
Williams 22:37 1-4 0-0 1-5 2 2 2
Garrett 17:28 1-7 0-0 0-0 3 0 2
Lucas III 9:00 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 4
Harris 3:14 0-0 0-0 1-1 0 0 0
Gobert 3:35 1-2 1-2 3-5 0 1 3
Totals 240:00 35-91 7-11 16-50 16 23 82
Percentages: FG .385, FT .636. 3-Point Goals: 5-16, .313 (Jefferson 3-5, Burks 1-1, Hayward 1-7, Garrett 0-1, Williams 0-2). Team Rebounds: 9. Team Turnovers: 18 (17 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Favors 3, Hayward). Turnovers: 18 (Jefferson 5, Garrett 3, Gobert 3, Hayward 3, Favors 2, Burks, Kanter). Steals: 9 (Favors 3, Jefferson 2, Burks, Garrett, Hayward, Williams). Technical Fouls: None.
San Antonio 16 25 19 31 — 91
Utah 29 17 21 15 — 82
Attendance • 17,530
Time • 2:03.
Officials • Joe Crawford, Ben Taylor, Scott Wall.