Sports Commentator Patrick Blake is host of the Blake’s Take show, airing weekdays from 5-6 p.m. on KZNU Sports Radio Southern Utah Sports Network – 96.7 FM 1450 AM – with live stream online at http://www.KZNUsports.com. Reporting from live TV broadcast.
ST. GEORGE – The Utah Jazz beat the under-manned San Antonio Spurs last night 91-84 snapping the Spurs 11-game winning streak.
The Spurs left their “big three” at home. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili all stayed in San Antonio to rest because the Spurs were playing the second half of a back-to-back and their second of four games in five days.
About two hours before the game, all the news broke. It started with the Jazz learning starting forward C.J. Miles, with a calf injury, was going to miss the Jazz’s three game road trip and backup point guard Earl Watson would be out for the season with a knee injury. Miles and Watson left the Jazz with only 10 players able to suit up because Josh Howard and Raja Bell were still out with injuries.
Then the Spurs’ news came out when Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili were not on the team bus as it arrived at the Arena.
The Jazz used an 11-0 fourth-quarter run to take the lead back from the Spurs. Devin Harris scored all 11 points in the run and finished with a game high 25 points.
The Jazz used the run to take a 4-point lead with just over two minutes left in the game.
The Jazz used defense the rest of the way to hold on for the win, holding the Spurs to 2-8 in shooting the rest of the game.
Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson each had double-doubles for the Jazz. Millsap scored 18 points and pulled in 10 rebounds. Jefferson also pulled down 10 rebounds while scoring 12 points.
Gordon Hayward was also in double figures scoring 16 points.
DeJuan Blair, who scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds, led the Spurs. Gary Neal and Tiago Splitter led the Spurs in scoring with 14 points each. Matt Bonner chipped in 10 points.
The Jazz are now in Houston to play the Rockets tomorrow night. The Rockets are on a four game winning streak, moving from ninth place to sixth place in the Western Conference over the last two weeks.
The Rockets have beaten some of the best teams in the NBA on the road in the four game road trip. The Rockets beat the Bulls, who have the best record in the NBA, and the Lakers on the two-game road trip.
The Jazz have their work cut out for them even with the big win over the Spurs. The other teams in the playoff race with the Jazz all won last night so the Jazz did not make up any ground and are still one-and-a-half games out of the playoffs.
For more JAZZ talk, tune into Blake’s Take weekdays from 5-6 p.m. on KZNU Sports Radio – 93.1 FM 1450 AM – or online streaming live on the brand new KZNU Sports website: www.kznusports.com
Twitter: @BlakesTake
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Copyright 2012 St. George News.