NBA Playoffs — Spurs Host Rested Jazz

The day is upon us. The day the Spurs welcome a new and formidable foe: the Utah Jazz. Formidable? Yeah. I was over at Yahoo! Sports reading Steve Kerr’s Scorecard on today’s Game 1 matchup. I think I my confidence as a Spurs fan may be a little shaken by the last series, which was by far the most dramatic and physical series of the playoffs so far (yes, even more so than Dallas/Golden State); but I think Kerr, also a minority owner in the Phoenix Suns, is making up for being a Phoenix fan first in his estimations last series.

Derek Fisher left his mark in 2004. Chris Birck/Getty Images

No doubt about it — if there’s one thing we learned from Games 5 and 6 in the Phoenix Suns series, it’s that Manu Ginobili is the X-factor. Having poured in 26 and 33, respectively, in the last two games he may have found his stroke. And it couldn’t have come at a better time. The Jazz also have a player with a newly lit fire under his azz: Derek Fisher. He nailed that “impossible” shot with “0.4″ on the clock as a Laker in Game 5 of the 2003-04 Western Conference semi-finals. No one has left such a mark on San Antonio since Ozzy Osbourne urinated on the Alamo in 1982.

And both teams are on a roll. Advantage Spurs for starting the series in San Antonio. Most NBA analysts pick the Spurs in 6. They should be able to do it in 5. But because the Spurs tend to play to the skill of their opponent, they may be right. Ok…enough pessimism. How about a little optimism? Spurs in 5.

GAME 1. Over/Under: 185. Spurs by 6.5. I’m not a bettin’ man, but I’ll take that.

Fun fact: Steve Kerr and Robert Horry alternated NBA Championships for a decade, and combined to win 11 championships over a twelve-year period. Either Kerr or Horry was on the roster of every NBA Championship team from the 1993-94 season through the 2002-03 season. Kerr’s teams were winners in the NBA Finals in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2003. Horry’s teams were victorious in the NBA Finals in 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005. Each won 3 titles playing for Phil Jackson-coached teams (the Lakers and Bulls), and every other championship with a team from Texas (the Spurs and Rockets).
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