Jazz at Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are seeking their first 3-0 start in five years when they host the Utah Jazz on Saturday. San Antonio opened with a road win against the New Orleans Hornets and then impressively beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 86-84 on Tony Parker’s 21-footer as time expired on Thursday. The Spurs have won 10 of their last 11 regular-season meetings against Utah and knocked the Jazz out of the playoffs last season with a four-game sweep.
Newcomer Randy Foye scored 20 points and knocked down four 3-pointers in Utah’s 88-86 loss to the New Orleans on Friday. The Jazz lost when Greivis Vasquez scored on a layup with 1.3 seconds left. Parker played 35 minutes in each of San Antonio’s first two games, a bit more playing time than coach Gregg Popovich prefers. Parker averaged 32 minutes per contest last season.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ROOT (Utah), CW35 (San Antonio)
ABOUT THE JAZZ (1-1): Consistency issues have plagued the career of forward Marvin Williams and Utah has seen both ends of the spectrum from Williams over the first two games. The offseason acquisition was splendid against the Dallas Mavericks in the season opener when he scored 21 points but often looked lost in Friday’s loss to the Hornets when he tallied just five points on 2-of-8 shooting. Williams has averaged just over 10 points per game in each of the last three seasons.
ABOUT THE SPURS (2-0): In addition to hitting the decisive shot in the victory over Oklahoma City, Parker has 17 assists against just one turnover in the first two games. He scored 23 points in the opener against New Orleans and followed up with 14 points and 11 assists against the Thunder. Forward Tim Duncan is averaging 22.0 points and 9.5 rebounds. The Spurs hope to have veteran guard Manu Ginobili (back) in the lineup for the first time this season.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. San Antonio won three of four regular-season meetings last season before the first-round playoff sweep.
2. Utah center Al Jefferson is averaging just 11 points and shooting 37.5 percent through two games. He averaged 19.2 points last season.
3. Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard had five steals in each of the first two games.