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SALT LAKE CITY — The Jazz are on life support.
After dropping two difficult games to the Spurs in San Antonio, the Jazz were hoping a return to EnergySolutions Arena, where the Jazz owned a 25-8 regular-season mark, would make a difference in their best-of-seven playoff series.
It didn’t.
San Antonio point guard Tony Parker scored a game-high 27 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Spurs to a 102-90 victory over the Jazz on Saturday. The Spurs now own a commanding 3-0 series lead.
No team in NBA history has ever rallied from an 0-3 deficit in a best-of-seven series. No team down 0-3 against the Spurs has ever extended a series longer than five games.
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Success doesn't mean winning this year
The Jazz have been demolished in three games in the playoffs, but if they are able to learn and grow this playoff run won't be a failure.For the Jazz (0-3) to move on to the second round, they’ll have to make history by beating the Spurs (3-0) four consecutive times. Game 4 takes place Monday at ESA.
Jazz center Al Jefferson, who scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Game 3, said his team has to be at its best to even have a shot to take down the vaunted Spurs.
“We just can’t make mistakes,” Jefferson said during post-game interviews. “You have to play a perfect game to even have a chance to beat a team like this. I think we just made too many mistakes in the crunch time of the game and they made us pay every time.”
The Spurs’ Game 3 victory was their 13th consecutive win, making their current streak the fourth longest streak ever and their longest since 2007. With the win, the Spurs also snapped a six-game playoff road losing streak. It was only the second time in the rich history of playoff battles between the two teams that the Spurs have pulled out a victory at ESA.
“It hurts because it puts us down 3-0,” said Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin. “It’s a tough loss on our home floor. I thought we played better, but we just couldn’t put it together enough to get over the hump against these guys.”
For the Jazz to pick up a win in Game 4, they’ll have to stop Parker, San Antonio’s All-Star point guard, who’s averaging 24.3 points per game in the series and has scored more than 20 points in 12 of their last 15 meetings.
Jazz point guard Devin Harris, who has had his hands full trying to defend Parker, said the Jazz need to make it harder for him to execute the Spurs' offense.
“He’s a great player. He’s an All-Star for a reason. Harris said. “We’re going to continue to make it tough on him and try to wear him down with different guys.”
While the Spurs expect the Jazz to key in on Parker they also expect the Jazz to not go down without a fight.
“They’re going to play like they have nothing to lose,” Parker said. “It’s very tough to play in this arena. I know Pop’s (Gregg Popovich) going to make sure everybody’s ready and make sure we compete and match their energy."
Corbin believes his team will continue to battle for the duration of the series.
“We’ve got to keep fighting. We’ve got a game on Monday night. If we win, we go back to San Antonio, if we don’t, we go home.” Corbin said.
Corbin continued, “These guys have always shown a lot of pride and resolve all year. We’ll be ready to go on Monday night. They’re going to have to beat us. We’re not just going to hand them the win. We’ll come back and fight them.”
The game takes place Monday at EnergySolutions Arena at 6 p.m. and will be televised nationally by TNT.
Jarrod is a freelance writer who writes Jazz previews for KSL.com. You can follow Jarrod Hiatt on Twitter at @jarrodhiatt.
