Jazz sweep Spurs, deny Duncan career milestone

By Tim Price, for NBA.com
Posted Thursday January 21, 2010 1:12AM

SAN ANTONIO (NBA.com exclusive) -- Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur said they had no idea Tim Duncan was coming up on the career milestone of 20,000 points. But the way it looked Wednesday when the Jazz took the floor against the Spurs, Boozer and Okur took it personally not to let Duncan further cement his name as one of the all-time greats.

Duncan got off to a 1-for-9 start and fouled out in the final minute before coming up one point short of 20,000. The rough night for the Spurs got worse when Utah's big men Boozer, Andre Kirilenko and Paul Millsap combined to go 28-for-39 and the Jazz survived San Antonio's 25-0 run in the first half. Boozer scored 31 and Kirilenko added 26.

The Jazz defeated the Spurs 105-98 at AT&T Center for a 4-0 season blanking of the Spurs. It's the first Jazz sweep of the series since a 5-0 mark when both franchises were Midwest Division rivals 16 years ago.

"We beat a great team four times," Okur said. "They've been rolling."

Since their previous loss to Utah in early December, the Spurs had won 16 of 22. But that roll was tempered by a four-game road trip the Spurs split before returning home to take on the Jazz.

Trailing by five after the first half, Utah (24-18) outscored San Antonio 60-48 after halftime. That's when Jazz coach Jerry Sloan thought the Spurs started showing the effects of their longest road trip of the season thus far.

"You see what happens a lot of time after a team has been out on the road and come back home," Sloan said. "Their energy level wasn't as high as you normally catch them."

The Spurs (25-16) had their most concentrated segment of the game where they showed energy in the first half. They shot 9-for-11 and allowed the Jazz to get off only one shot inside of 12 feet during a stretch of 5:37 for a 25-0 run to end the first quarter and start the second.

Not including that run, San Antonio shot 26-for-78 for 33 percent. The Spurs missed their first eight shots of the game.

"We need to shoot the ball better," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We were God awful in that area."

Additionally, the Jazz went 28-for-32 from the line while San Antonio was 22-for-26. Utah gave up 49 foul shots in a seven-point loss Sunday at Denver.

The foul line -- and 10 assists -- allowed Deron Williams to salvage a rough offensive night after he went to the bench with two fouls in the opening 2:24. Williams was 11-for-12 from the line.

"In the second half they just outworked us," said Manu Ginobili, who led San Antonio with 22 points and eight assists. "They played better. They hustled more and went to the boards. And they moved the ball better."

Utah had 30 assists on 37 baskets.

"That was big for us," Sloan said. "I thought we did a good job moving the basketball.

"And Andre [Kirilenko] had a great game for us. He didn't screw around with it. He caught it and shot it."

Kirilenko hit 11-for-15 shots.

The onslaught of assists for Utah was glaring in the fourth after the Spurs cut the Jazz's 12-point lead with 6:53 to go down to 89-85 with 4:51 left. Utah's final five baskets came inside 10 feet, keyed by good ball movement. The Spurs cut the score to 99-96 with 48 seconds to go, but the Jazz hit their final six free throws.

With Duncan, Okur pinpointed an effort that harassed Duncan inside. Despite nine offensive rebounds, Duncan was 5-for-15 for 14 points.

"I tried to push him off the lane, push him off the block," Okur said. "We wanted him to make some tough shots over my hands. He got fouls, and we didn't really let him get it going."

• Jazz: Fesenko
• Spurs: Finley, Hairston, Haislip

• Jazz: --
• Spurs: --

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
• Officials: #32 Eddie F. Rush, #53 Mark Lindsay, #38 Michael Smith
• Attendance: 17584
• Duration: 2:30