These two better hop to it before it's too late for Jazz
SAN ANTONIO -- One reason why some people gave Utah a chance against San Antonio is the Jazz's depth.
Deron Williams could've been an All-Star this season. Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur were. Andrei Kirilenko has been in the past. But of those four, only two have shown up nightly. The other two have barely been a factor.
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| It's time for Mehmet Okur to remind us why he was named an All-Star. (Getty Images) |
Okur is averaging 7.0 points per game, more than 10 below his regular season average. He's shooting 26 percent in the series (10-for-38). In his most effective performance of the series, the Game 3 win where his defense helped take Tim Duncan out of his comfort zone, Okur went scoreless. Fabricio Oberto has dwarfed Okur's contributions. Utah certainly didn't count on that.
Kirilenko has been only slightly better. His athleticism is always a major factor, considering the Jazz aren't the most athletic of teams, but he's averaging just 8.3 points and 4.5 rebounds. Against Golden State, he was up over 16 points and close to nine boards. In his role as X-factor and defensive stopper, the Spurs' Bruce Bowen has been far more effective.
"They take teams out of their rhythm," Kirilenko said. "That's what they do. It isn't a series until four wins. You've got to fight."
That's exactly what Kirilenko and Okur have to do Wednesday night if the Jazz are going to have any chance to force the series back to Salt Lake City. For Utah to beat San Antonio, everyone has to contribute. In the only win the Jazz are likely to earn in this series, that's what it took. Defensively, everyone buckled down and played their part. On offense, there was movement; as Gordan Giricek put it, "The ball was shared around, and everybody was dangerous."
Okur has to get back to being the clutch performer who enjoyed a breakthrough season. He came into this series brimming with confidence and was Utah's most assertive player in the first half of the Game 1 loss. Problem is, while he did force Duncan to come out and close on his jumpers, Okur took and missed too many. Whether that destroyed his confidence, only he truly knows, but the Jazz need him to snap out of it.
Making matters more difficult is that the Spurs don't have any of the Detroit Pistons' lack of urgency. When they get you down, they pounce on you and pound you like Rampage Jackson trying to end a UFC fight. They're 12-4 in close-out games over the past four seasons, with nine of those wins coming in their first chance to post a series knockout.
"They have shown that they know what they are doing and they are very physical," said Duncan, who enjoys a 20-7 mark in close-out games for his career. "They are going to bring even more of that energy to Game 5. So we'll have to bring our best game to close them out."
Best game? Gulp.
No chance San Antonio might take its foot off the pedal?
"What we did in Game 3 was not right. It was not the appropriate fear that we should have had. And so we got to stay humble," Manu Ginobili said. "We got to know that they are not going to give us anything. If we are going to win Game 5, it is going to be because we played hard and we really fight through it and have a good game."
Utah has lost 18 consecutive games in San Antonio.
Paging Okur and Kirilenko. If you don't show up now, it's going to be a long offseason for the both of you.
