Williams, Jazz play right tune in Game 3 Charley Rosen / Special to FOXSports.com Posted: 1 hour ago In lambasting the Spurs 109-83, the young Jazz grew up in a hurry. Besides their obvious edge in defense and offense, Utah also out-hustled, out-muscled and even out-screen-rolled the veteran Spurs. On offense, the Jazz took a page out of the Spurs' playbook by setting screens and re-screens. Deron Williams' handle was so shifty that even when the Spurs' big men showed aggressively, he simply couldn't be contained. The result was pull-up jumpers and corner-turning layups for Williams, as well as gimmes for the rolling screeners. If Tim Duncan is clearly the best player in the league, Williams was the best player on the court in Game 3. There was no facet of the game in which he didn't excel. He shot bull's-eyes ─ 10-for-19, including 4-for-5 from afar. He passed ─ eight assists. He had quick hands on defense ─ five steals. He exhibited enormous creativity ─ a third-quarter crossover dribble literally faked Jacque Vaughn to the floor. He took good care of the ball ─ only two turnovers. And he scored 31 points. And he's only a second-year player! Carlos Boozer also had a high-powered ball game ─ 12-for-19 field goals, 12 rebounds, 29 points. He was explosive off the mark in the low-post, yet did most of his scoring on mid-range jumpers and turnaround jumpers. Boozer was likewise on the finishing end of several S/Rs. Karl who? For the first time in the series the Jazz got considerable contributions from their role players and their bench players. Mehmet Okur went scoreless, but courageously battled Duncan on defense. His crafty ball-snipings preventing TD from developing any kind of rhythm. Derek Fisher ─ 4-for-8 FG, 11 points ─ epitomized Utah's new-found orneriness by fearlessly setting several killer screens on San Antonio's bigs. Matt Harpring ─ 4-for-6, eight points ─blasted his way to the hoop like a fullback driving for a first down. Gordan Giricek finally hit some shots ─ 4-for-8, 11 points ─ and even drove the lane for a layup. Paul Millsap ─ 4-for-7, eight points ─ was bullish in the paint. And even Jarron Collins ─ 2-for-3, seven points ─ made his presence felt at both ends of the court. In addition to his body-banging defense of Duncan, Collins hit a 16-foot jumper. In preparing for Game 3, Jerry Sloan and his staff made several critical adjustments: # Running shooters off more weak-side screens than before, and adding some double-screens to the mix. # Letting Williams play S/R basketball. # Doubling Manu Ginobili hard on high-screen rolls. One such maneuver by Millsap and Harpring created a turnover and a breakaway basket. # And, most importantly, instead of defending Duncan with outright double-teams, whenever he put the ball on the floor Utah's guards dropped and dug into his handle. Duncan's eight turnovers demonstrate just how unprepared he (and the Spurs) were for this new defensive wrinkle. In addition to Williams' superlative performance, the most significant development in the game was the foul trouble that plagued Duncan and limited him to 26 minutes, eight rebounds, and 16 points. Those fouls were caused by Duncan's inattention in not knowing where his defender was when he spun to the cup, his overzealousness in running over smalls on his way to the offensive glass, and one was a bogus moving-screen call made by Bob Delaney. Jeff Van Gundy, now working as a color commentator, expressed his opinion that the foul limit should be raised to seven per player per game. His argument was simply that star players belong on the court. What Van Gundy didn't say is that the availability of such marquee players should not depend on the profoundly fallible judgment of the attendant three blind mice. I agree with Van Gundy (a first!), but with one modification. Because of the limited rosters in the CBA, there was a no-foul-out rule. A player could remain on the court when he picked up his 6th foul, but every succeeding foul of his would entitle the opponents to shoot an extra free throw. (To be taken by any player chosen by the opposing coach.) In a close game, this opportunity for a bonus point was often a crucial factor. But, of course, the NBA will never adopt such a radical, sensible rule change. In any event, with Duncan flustered and bench-bound, the Spurs couldn't get their offense into gear. Not that they didn't make their own between-game adjustments ─ the best of these being a hand-off and roll that resulted in Tony Parker passing to Duncan for an uncontested layup. With Duncan absent-with-leave, Parker gamely tried to pick up the slack ─ 9-for-18, six assists, 25 poitns. But in the latter stages of the game the Jazz simply ganged up on him whenever he spun to the hoop. Nor could Ginobili get his mojo working ─ 4-for-12, 14 points. Great interior rotations by all the Jazz simply cramped most of Ginobili's penetrations. With two of their big three out of synch, the Spurs struggled to score on virtually every possession. The key indicator of the Spurs' lack of synchronicity was actually Fabricio Oberto, who was only 2-for-2 and scored five points. When the Spurs were operating on all cylinders in the previous two games, Oberto scored 14 points in each contest ─ usually as a result of exquisite ball- and player-movement. With their offense a dud, so was he. Credit Utah's belligerent defense for stifling Duncan and Ginobili. And credit their Williams-centric offense for shredding the Spurs' defense. Expect Pop to rouse his troops to an incredibly high level of intensity and focus for Game 4. And expect Sloan to once again challenge his guys to play with pugnacity and pride. Get excited: What we have now is a real live series! http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/6854162 --

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