Opening Spurt Lifts San Antonio to Fourth Trip to Finals

May 31, 05:18 AM

Current Headlines: By Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle

May 31----Box score

SAN ANTONIO -- Tim Duncan dropped himself to a seat on the Spurs' bench as casual and content as if folding himself into a beach chair to sip something cool and watch a sunset.

There were still nearly 14 minutes left to play on Wednesday. But by then, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker were already sitting, and they welcomed him with a brief, breezy chat that would not have been inappropriate if it were about whether they would rather play the Pistons or Cavaliers in the NBA Finals beginning next Thursday in San Antonio.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan had already cleared his bench, though not yet in surrender, and moments later, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich would empty his.

For all the times the Jazz had come back to make things too sticky for comfort, the Spurs pounced, then kept on rolling to a 109-84 rout of the Jazz to close out the Western Conference Finals in five games as if there never was any doubt.

Perhaps there never should have been. For all Utah's tenacity in winning Game 7 against the Rockets in Toyota Center and shutting down the Warriors' stunning postseason roll, the Spurs made the rout seem inevitable.

Decisive first quarter "They got a great start," Sloan said. "They came at us really hard. We lost faith as far as anything we wanted to do. They destroyed our will to want to play. To me, that was the whole thing."

The Spurs had led by as much as 19, 22 and 14 in their previous wins in the series. But in Game 5, they blew out the Jazz so completely that they led by 19 in the first quarter and never let the Jazz close to within less than 16 again.

"Our first quarter was unbelievable," Parker said. "I can't remember since I've been with the Spurs shooting the ball like that. Our defense was great. Our offense was great. Everybody was knocking down shots. I think that's where we won the game, the first quarter.

"You can't ask for a better start. It may be our best start since I've been a Spur."

Rarely have they seemed more in command, more unbeatable. And never had the Jazz seemed so worn from their run to get this far, with point guard Deron Williams struggling with a sprained right foot and Derek Fisher unavailable until the second half.

Williams frustrated Fisher had spent Wednesday morning with his daughter, who had a tumor removed from behind her eye earlier this month, as she underwent further treatment in New York.

By the time he returned, the Jazz trailed, 55-39, barely hanging on to their last shreds of hope to extend their season.

Williams' availability had also been in doubt.

"Obviously, Deron wasn't Deron," Popovich said. "He's somebody that had been difficult the whole series. We had a great first quarter, but obviously, he wasn't full speed as the game went on."

Yet when it all came apart, Williams said Utah's problems were greater than his health.

"It's frustrating the way we came out to start the ballgame," Williams said. "They just took it to us from the start. You'd think we could put up a better fight than that in probably the most important game of our careers.

"There are definitely some guys not on the same page, not just in this game, but in the entire series. There were some guys that were already on vacation. Point blank. On vacation a long time ago."

Even when Williams began the second half making his first two shots, he quickly picked up his fourth foul and went back to the bench.

Within 16 when he left, the Jazz made one of their next six shots, and the rout was on.

Jazz forward Carlos Boozer would soon also go out with four fouls, and by the time they returned for the start of the fourth quarter, the Spurs built the lead to 83-56, a lead so commanding that Spurs centers Francisco Elson and Fabricio Oberto had begun flinging jumpers with impunity.

Jazz lacked focus Averaging 54 points in the first four games of the series, Williams and Boozer combined for 20 in Game 5 but agreed on the greater Jazz shortcoming.

"We are in the Western Conference finals and we have guys that have vacation plans," Boozer said. "We need guys that have a championship vision. When you have your vacation plans already, that's not a championship vision."

When Duncan joined Parker on the bench, each with 21 points in less than 30 minutes on the floor, the Finals, if not the Spurs' fourth championship, were clearly in their sights.

"It was great to start the way we started ... to really start feeling good early in the game," Duncan said. "We just took control and we kept control."

It was something to see, and this time, Duncan took a seat and happily watched it unfold, his work done.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

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