Salt Lake City – From the arena floor to high in the rafters, hundreds of Utah Jazz fans stared in disbelief long after the San Antonio Spurs won Game 4 of the NBA’s Western Conference finals 91-79.
The season didn’t end for Utah on Monday night. But from the looks on the faces of Jazz fans, combined with the team’s challenge ahead, it could be soon unless a miracle is imminent.
The Spurs took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and can advance to their fourth NBA Finals in franchise history with a victory in Game 5 in San Antonio on Wednesday. The now-desperate Jazz needs to win three straight, including two in San Antonio, to advance. The Jazz has an 18-game losing streak in San Antonio.
“You can only play one game at a time,” Utah guard Derek Fisher said. “That’s all you can control. If you do that, you can give yourselves a chance. If we start looking ahead like, ‘Oh, we can win three games in a row,’ than that task seems so daunting and you don’t allow yourself to play the next game.
“We just have to worry about Game 5 and figure out by any means necessary how to win that game and extend our life. That’s all I can offer. It’s nothing more, nothing less than that.”
Utah’s loss Monday was the team’s first in eight home playoff games in this postseason. San Antonio’s play and focus was much stronger than it was in Game 3, when the Spurs were hammered 109-83 by the host Jazz.
While the Spurs look poised to win another Western Conference title, they believe their respect for the Jazz will keep them focused on winning the series.
“It could be a tied series and a whole new ballgame,” said Spurs forward Tim Duncan, who had 19 points and nine rebounds in Game 4. “We put them in a hole now with a 3-1 (lead) going back to our house. It is a great position to be in.
“We don’t in any way think we are just going to walk in our building and take these guys out. They have shown they can play with us.”
The Spurs entered the fourth quarter with only a 63-62 lead and reason to be worried. But instead of making a comeback, the Jazz fell apart.
The Spurs outscored Utah 28-17 in the fourth quarter after making 19-of-25 free throws and just four field goals. San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili scored 16 points in that quarter, including 11 from the line. The Jazz was called for 11 personal fouls, and two second technicals led to the ejection of Fisher and veteran coach Jerry Sloan.
Utah guard Deron Williams overcame a bout with the stomach flu to play, but he was limited to three of his game-high 27 points on 1-of-5 shooting in the fourth quarter.
“We played a pretty solid game up until the fourth quarter,” Williams said.
When asked about the technicals, Sloan said, “I don’t want to talk about those, because all that does is get me in trouble.”
When pressed for an answer, Sloan said: “I said I wouldn’t talk about it, all right? Thank you. Thank you.”
Mad about the officiating and the outcome, Jazz fans hurled items at the referees as they were whisked off the floor by security after the game. Salt Lake City police apprehended one fan who tried to rush the referees.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was concerned enough to tell his players to quickly get to their locker room.
“Whenever you’re fighting hard and you feel like you can do everything you can do and it’s not working, then it’s just going to boil over,” Fisher said. “Nothing happened out there in terms of trying to hurt anybody or to make the game into an ugly situation that way. But it was frustrating how the game was ending.”
Staff writer Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-954-1098 or mspears@denverpost.com.
