Salt Lake City – During the Western Conference finals, Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer have been compared to Utah’s future Hall of Fame duo of John Stockton and Karl Malone.
But when it comes to supporting casts, the comparisons stop.
Stockton and Malone played with several talented role players who could score – Darrell Griffith, Thurl Bailey, Jeff Hornacek and Bryon Russell. As for Williams and Boozer, they need some help soon or the Jazz will be on vacation. The Spurs lead the series 3-1 going into tonight’s Game 5 in San Antonio.
“We’ve had to carry the load throughout for most of these playoffs,” Boozer said, referring to himself and Williams, after Wednesday’s practice at the team’s training facility. “We have guys who are talented enough to pick it up. We’re going to need those guys to pick it up to have a chance.”
Maybe the Golden State Warriors fooled the Jazz into thinking the supporting cast would score in the West finals.
After struggling against Houston in the first round, Utah forward Andrei Kirilenko averaged 16.2 points in the conference semifinals against the Warriors. Utah all-star center Mehmet Okur averaged 17.4 points against the Warriors’ poor defense, and guard Derek Fisher averaged 13.8.
San Antonio’s defense, which ranked first in the NBA during the regular season, has shut down everyone but Williams and Boozer. Through four games, Williams is averaging 29.5 points on 54 percent shooting against the Spurs, and Boozer is averaging 24.5 points on 56 percent shooting.
Although Williams and Boozer have averaged a combined 54 points, the rest of the team has combined for 42. Kirilenko is the Jazz’s third-leading scorer against the Spurs, averaging 8.3 points on 44 percent shooting. While hampered by smaller and more athletic Spurs defenders, Okur has been the biggest surprise, averaging just 7.0 points on 26 percent shooting.
“We have to do a better job to score, because (Williams and Boozer) have been doing really good,” Kirilenko said.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said the pressure on the supporting cast to score has been a factor in the poor play.
“Everyone says, ‘You got to have help, you got to have help,’ so we can get more scoring,” Sloan said. “Then you go to the other extreme and say, ‘OK, I got to prove I can score.’ Now you’re taking tough shots, bad shots. It’s very difficult to have anything on offense when you do that.
“It’s a thing that concerns us a great deal. Instead of running our offense, (it is) ‘I’ve got to take a shot as soon as I get the ball.’ Sometimes it’s a bad shot. We took a couple tough shots coming down the stretch of the (Game 4 loss). It was really very, very difficult. We have to make them play defense.”
Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-954-1098 or mspears@denverpost.com.
