Jazz struggling to score inside paint
The Utah Jazz relied on a strong interior presence all season long.
That dominating post play, however, has yet to show up in the postseason. Now that
they're down 3-0 to the Spurs after Saturday's 102-90 Game 3 loss to the San Antonio
Spurs, history says it's too late.
Tony Parker lit the Jazz up again for 27 points and Tim Duncan added 17 points, but the
stat that told the story of this game was at the bottom of the boxscore.
Points in the paint: San Antonio 50, Utah 28.
Center Al Jefferson finally had a decent offensive showing (21 points), but Utah relied
on too many outside jumpers. On this night, the home rims weren't too kind as the Jazz
shot just 40.4 percent from the field.
Coach Tyrone Corbin offered a detailed explanation of what has made the Spurs so
effective in bottling up the Jazz bigs.
"They do a great job of pressuring the ball at the point first, and then the guys
coming out to the wing make you catch it at a bad angle, a step out from the free-throw
line," Corbin explained. "(Also) in the post, they are either fronting or bumping off
(our) spot and making Al and Paul (Millsap) catch it two, three steps off the post rather
than getting it deep."
Millsap only finished with nine points on 4-for-12 shooting.
The Jazz now have the unenviable task of trying to become the first team in NBA history
to rally from a three-game deficit to win a best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Monday night
at Utah.
