Popovich, Spurs wary of struggling Jazz
By Steve Luhm
The Salt Lake Tribune
Published: January 26, 2011 11:21AM
Updated: January 26, 2011 11:21AM
Two teams headed in the opposite direction meet Wednesday night at EnergySolutions.
San Antonio has won nine of its last 10 and built the best record in the Western Conference (38-7).
Utah has lost five in a row after being waxed by the Lakers on Tuesday night in Los Angeles 120-91.
The Jazz are in danger of falling into seventh place in the Western Conference standings, if they can’t snap their losing streak against San Antonio and if Denver wins in Detroit.
Despite the different roads the teams have taken to get to this point in their seasons, Spurs coach Greg Popovich isn’t taking anything for granted in Utah.
“Hopefully, our team will focus because, frankly, this is just what the doctor ordered for the Jazz,” Popovich said at San Antonio’s morning shootaround.
“They’ve had a tough road trip but they are coming home where they have great fans. It’s going to be noisy and they want to get back on track and we have the best record and duh-duh-dah. It’s perfect. So we better have them laced up and be ready for a hell of a fight or we’ll have big problems.”
San Antonio’s Tim Duncan will play against the Jazz.
Duncan injured his knee in the first half of San Antonio’s 113-102 win at Golden State on Monday night.
“For a moment,” Manu Ginobili told the San Antonio Express-News, “we thought it was really bad.”
Duncan’s injury turned out to be a hyperflexed knee, however, and he returned to play in the secon half after assuring Popovich he was fine.
“I just fell wrong,” said Duncan, who ended with 16 points and seven rebounds. “It feels fine. All I know is I went down kind of awkward.”
Said teammate Antonio McDyess, “I was scared for him. I saw him rolling around on the ground and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’”
The Spurs have avoided injuries this season.
Against the Jazz, Popovich expects to start the same starting lineup for the 46th straight time.
