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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
SAN ANTONIO (AP) – Thumped vs. Dallas, blown out vs. Houston and smacked hard in the first quarter in San Antonio, the Utah Jazz
probably can't wait to get out of Texas and go home.
|  | | Samaki Walker pulls down one of his five rebounds for the Spurs. |
Utah dropped its third straight game, 106-88, to San Antonio on
Thursday night as Tim Duncan scored 29 points and Derek Anderson added 23 and the Spurs swept the four-game season series between the Western Conference rivals.
The Jazz fell 98-90 to the Mavericks on Monday before being handed their worst loss of the season, 109-86, in Houston the next night. Against the Spurs, Utah trailed 36-18 after the first quarter and never cut the led to less than 13.
"These are gut-check times and you see what you're made of,"
said Karl Malone, who led Utah with 24 points. "We have 11 games left. I know many people think this thing (the division race) is over with. We just have to play hard and see what happens."
The Jazz (47-24) trail the NBA-leading Spurs by 3½ games in the Midwest Division.
San Antonio, which improved to 51-21, won its fourth game against Utah this season.
"It's definitely something that we need, those kind of games, those kind of series," Duncan said. "Knowing that we're going to the playoffs, we might see them. Having that confidence, having that dominance over them, it's great for us."
San Antonio charged to an early lead on the strength of Duncan's 14-point first quarter.
The Spurs opened the game with back-to-back 3-pointers by
Anderson and Terry Porter and hit seven of their first nine shots.
A jumper by Duncan, which he followed with a dunk when Utah lost
the ball on a shot clock violation, ignited an 18-2 burst that gave
San Antonio a 31-14 lead with 1:34 left in the period.
The Spurs closed the period with Sean Elliott's 3-pointer -- the
team's fourth -- to go up 36-18. They hit 14-of-19 from the field in
the quarter (74 percent), including 5-of-6 by Duncan, who also went
4-for-4 from the foul line.
"We shot so well in the first quarter I think we really put
them back on their heels," said David Robinson, who had 12 points
and six blocks for the Spurs. "After that, they seemed a little
off-balance. That might have taken away from the intensity of the
game."
Duncan, who had been struggling with his free throws this season
prior to a 12-for-12 performance Tuesday night in a win over
Charlotte, had another strong showing, going 15-for-18 from the line.
Like the Rockets, who led Utah 66-39 at halftime, San Antonio
built a 67-43 lead through two quarters.
For the game, the Spurs shot 52 percent from the field, while
limiting Utah to 42 percent.
"They came out and shut us down in every department," Jazz
coach Jerry Sloan said. "We couldn't get a shot. They were alive
defensively. They were making all of their shots out on the
perimeter. We couldn't get to them and that was the ball game."
San Antonio hit 9-of-10 3-pointers in the first half.
Game notes
The game was No. 1,329 for Stockton, who tied Moses Malone
for third place on the NBA career games-played list. ... Duncan
picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter and was scoreless
for the period. ... The Jazz couldn't overcome the early deficit
despite outscoring the Spurs 44-32 in the paint and going 20-4 on
second chance points.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Utah Clubhouse
San Antonio Clubhouse
RECAPS
Washington 116
Golden State 100
Atlanta 104
Indiana 93
Milwaukee 104
Miami 96
San Antonio 106
Utah 88
Boston 106
Chicago 104
Phoenix 90
Houston 85
Vancouver 89
New York 68
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