NBA Playoffs 2012: Jazz Get Blown Out By Spurs

San Antonio put away Utah early in game 2 of their first round match up. The Jazz had an awful night from the floor shooting an embarrassing 34%.  Never being able to recover from the Spurs’ early onslaught and making this game unbearable to watch. The Spurs meanwhile were led by 2 unsung players in Kawhi Leonard and Daniel Green taking some of the scoring pressure off their stars. On a night when Greg Popovich was awarded coach of the year, his players made his half time adjustments very easy. With the score 53-28 in the Spurs’ favor, Popovich just had to make sure his team was on cruise control for the rest of the night. Ending the game with a 31 point victory, the Spurs’ 114 to Utah’s 83.

Snap Fast Reaction

While it’s obvious this game got out of hand early, San Antonio has some great things to take away from this game. If they continue to get play out of Leonard and Green like they did Wednesday night, they will look dangerous and deep. Going back to the first half when the game was decided, it was those 2 players who led the way combining for 23 points. So while the always reliable Duncan and Parker still had very solid games, it is good to know the Spurs can find offense outside of their stars.

On the flip side, the Jazz just looked horrible. For a team whose primary offense comes from the post, to only shoot 34% from the floor is just eye-popping. For coach Tyrone Corbin, there is no silver lining in a game like this. Instead of learning from it, they just might want to burn the film here and move on to game 4 with the little dignity they might have left.

Spurs Star of The Game

I am going with Daniel Green and Kawhi Leonard here. While Green did nothing in the 2nd half, he was nothing short of sensational in the first. Going 5 for 8 from the field. Paving the way for the blow out with 13 points. It’s a nice journey for a guy who was a 2nd round pick, cut from 2 teams, only to grab a starting spot on a contender and contribute. Leonard himself has been a young stud all year. He was even an honorable mention in the much heralded SCIC ROY Award voting. Kawhi’s most impressive attribute brought to Wednesdays’ game was his accuracy with the 3 ball, going 3 for 4 and finishing with 17 points for the game.

Jazz Star of The Game

This award would have gone to a “DNP: Coach’s Decision” if I did not think Derrick Favors was not coming into his own. Despite getting limited playing time until the game was all but decided, Favors still finished with 9 points and 9 rebounds. While not overly impressive to look at in a box score, Favors’ aggressive play was the only highlight for Utah. I am not saying he played fantastic but someone had to walk away with this “award”. I would hope Corbin would play him more early on in games going forward.

Devon Harris Where Are You

Usually we show a video clip of a players ineptitude here. While the Jazz had plenty of sloppy play, we are reserving the right to bash Harris in this portion of the recap. Devon is such a talented player which makes it that much more disappointing to point out Harris’ atrocious play for the second game in a row. Scoring only 5 points to go along with his whopping 1 assist is a joke. Tony Parker is obviously the better point guard in this match up but Harris at least needs to show up. Watching him play was the first time I ever felt embarrassed to watch another person play the game of basketball. He has so much talent. Lets hope he gets it together for game 3.

What The Game Means

The win means that San Antonio is the better team. That is something we already knew. What we did learn is that the Spurs have more offense available to them then they’ve had in the last few years. It’s probably not a good idea to bank on Leonard and Green giving you steady scoring on a consistent basis. It is nice to know you go to them from time to time to get buckets.

I thought Utah had a young and hungry team before this series started. I also thought they had the size to make this series interesting, I was wrong. While some of their big guys like Favors and Kanter are really young and still need to be developed, guys like Jefferson and Millsap need to get going. Both were no shows for game 2 and looked like a JV squad out there.

Moving Forward

The Spurs are just going to continue to do what they have done for almost 2 decades now. No sense in changing their game plan now with a series they have a death grip on. There is not much else to be said about the Spurs. They came, they saw, they conquered. Even Patty Mills scored 9 points, so good for him.(Go St. Mary’s)

Despite the lopsided score this series is not over. The home team is supposed to win at home. Utah gets to head back home Saturday and have the next few days to lick their wounds. If Corbin and the Jazz staff can come up with a game plan to utilize their bigs, they have a fighters chance. Maybe if Devon Harris gets his act together this series will become interesting. I am sure the Jazz faithful are hoping for some kind of adjustments here to at least make them look like a passable playoff team. After writing that, I now fear I am drunk on hope.

Game 3

Game 3 will be Saturday 10pm on TNT. Unless you are from Utah or a Spurs fan, you have likely mentally checked out from this series. But you should watch anyway. Then come to SirCharles for a recap.

Joe Nardone is a Writer/Blogger for Sir Charles In Charge. You can follow him on the twitter machine @DrealJoeMan