SPURS ON BRINK OF FINALS

 

(Image taken from NBA.com)

 

In the West, the Spurs looked to have been given a smooth run to the Finals, only having to face the Jazz. Sure enough, the Texas side won Games 1 and 2 in San Antonio in a fashion that suggested they were in the mood for a sweep. The Jazz had other ideas though and when the series switched to Utah for Game 3, the Spurs found themselves the wrong end of a second half blowout! That left the Spurs hungry and as a result Game 4 was too close to call.

Well the Jazz opened the scoring and though the Spurs quickly leveled, the home side kept the edge for the first part of the opening quarter. The Spurs stayed within a posession of the lead untill mid quarter when the Jazz went up 10-6 but after a minute long drought the Spurs went on a run to take the lead for the first time and it was them who held the edge untill the Jazz retook the lead with 2:25 on the clock, a lead they looked to take to the buzzer untill Michael Finley hit a three pointer to give the a Spurs a 21-20 lead at the end of the 1st.

The Spurs then stepped up a gear in the second, blasting away from the Jazz who even after they got themselves started in the quarter, were only able to tread water though they did narrow the gap to two at one point. As the quarter worse on though, the Spurs were comfortable adding the neccesary points to maintain their lead. The Jazz did enough to prevent a blowout but with Tony Parker leading the way, the Spurs lead 50-42 at the half.

The 3rd quarter opened with a drought that lasted over a minute but once Bruce Bowen started hitting shots the Spurs had a double digit lead! Time for the Jazz to do something about it. The home side's shot accuracy was their greatest weapon in this quarter as they went on a batch of mini-runs to take bites out of the Spurs lead, narrowing the deficit down to one with less than two minutes on the clock. Even that wasn't enough though, Spurs lead 63-62 with a quarter to go.

The 4th quarter is when the Jazz step up in this series though...usually. The Jazz were just about able to keep the deficit down to one point early on but you are not going to win a game at this level if you commit four turnovers in the final quarter! That means that the likes of Manu Ginbli is going to lick his lips and make mincemeat out of you after having had a quiet game up to that point. The Spurs went on to secure a double digit lead and won the game 91-79 and head home on a high with a probable series winning Game 5 in San Antonio.

In the East, Game 4 was in Cleveland. The Cavs blasted into the Pistons from the start and though the number 1 seed put up a brief fight in the 2nd quarter, it soon became clear that they weren't going to win this game in the first half. The third quarter was another matter entirely as they came from behind twice to lead 67-65 with a quarter to go. The Pistons came back down the stretch though with Drew Gooden powering them down the stretch to win 91-87 and chase the Pistons back to Detroit for Game 5, making the series a three gamer.

And down the stretch we go.

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