Spurs Get Even With Jazz, 88-77

A lot of tension and a little lecture from coach Bob Hill were just what the San Antonio Spurs needed to even their playoff series with Utah.

“There was a lot of pressure after losing the first game. Everyone was on edge coming in,” said David Robinson, who had 24 points and 12 rebounds as the Spurs beat the Jazz 88-77 Thursday night to even the series 1-1.

Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is Saturday in Salt Lake City. Utah won the opener 95-75.

“We were better tonight,” said Hill, who gave his team a friendly lecture earlier Thursday about learning from their mistakes.

“We have a lot of character on this team and they knew they hadn’t played well in Game 1. We didn’t play great, but we did play awfully well at times.”

The Spurs used a late 15-3 run to defeat the Jazz in a game filled with scoring streaks by both teams. The 77 points were the lowest playoff total for the Jazz.

The Jazz used a 15-4 run to cut the Spurs’ lead to 73-71 on a jumper by Karl Malone with 3:13 left, but Robinson’s three-point play sparked a 15-3 run that put San Antonio up 88-74. Chuck Person capped the spurt with a three-point play with 9.8 seconds left.

Utah coach Jerry Sloan was ejected with 1:50 left after arguing with the refs. Sloan said he thought Malone and Will Perdue were about to get into an altercation.

“Next time I’ll wait until somebody gets his head knocked off,” Sloan said. “It was just a mistake on my part to go out there.”

Malone led the Jazz with 24 points and eight rebounds, while Person had 16 points for the Spurs.

San Antonio had a huge advantage at the foul line, making 21 of 29 compared with 4 of 5 for Utah. The Spurs also outrebounded the Jazz, 46-38.

Malone didn’t get to the freethrow line at all.

“I never talk about the officiating; I’m not going to start now,” Malone said. “It’s just the way it happened. We didn’t do what we needed down the stretch.”

John Stockton had 13 assists for Utah, but scored just four points and missed 5 of 6 shots from the field.

“We contained (Stockton) a lot better,” Spurs guard Vinny Del Negro. “We had some pressure on him and he had a few turnovers.”

The Spurs opened the game with an 11-0 run and led 25-9 after the first quarter. The Jazz, who shot 24 percent in the period, matched the second-lowest point total in the opening quarter of a playoff game.

The Spurs had a balanced scoring attack, with Sean Elliott getting 12 and Charles Smith and Del Negro 10 apiece.

Spurs 88, Jazz 77

Utah (77) - Morris 1-3 0-0 2, Malone 12-25 0-0 24, Spencer 0-3 0-0 0, Hornacek 1-6 1-1 3, Stockton 1-6 2-2 4, Eisley 2-3 0-0 4, Russell 6-12 0-0 16, Ostertag 2-4 1-2 5, Carr 4-11 0-0 8, Keefe 5-5 0-0 11. Totals 34-78 4-5 77.

San Antonio (88) - Elliott 2-9 8-10 12, Smith 5-8 0-0 10, Robinson 9-20 6-10 24, Del Negro 4-11 2-2 10, Johnson 4-11 0-0 8, Perdue 2-4 4-6 8, Person 6-11 1-1 16, Alexander 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-74 21-29 88.

Utah 9 29 16 23 - 77

San Antonio 25 11 27 25 - 88

3-Point goals-Utah 5-11 (Russell 4-6, Keefe 1-1, Morris 0-1, Hornacek 0-1, Stockton 0-2), San Antonio 3-9 (Person 3-6, Del Negro 0-1, Elliott 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Utah 40 (Ostertag, Malone 8), San Antonio 55 (Robinson 12). Assists- Utah 30 (Stockton 13), San Antonio 22 (Johnson 10). Total fouls-Utah 27, San Antonio 12. Technicals-Morris, Utah coach Sloan 2, Malone, Utah illegal defense 2, San Antonio illegal defense. Ejection-Utah coach Sloan. A-18,635 (20,662).