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Jazz look to remain perfect at home in the postseason

May 26, 2007 - 2:30 PM San Antonio at Utah 8:30 pm EDT Western Conference finals Spurs lead series, 2-0

SALT LAKE CITY (Ticker) - Coach Jerry Sloan and the Utah Jazz are sure glad to back in their comfort zone.

The Jazz seeks their seventh consecutive win at home this postseason as they welcome in the San Antonio Spurs for Game Three on Saturday.

Trailing 0-2 will not be an easy task to overcome as Utah hopes that the EnergySolutions area can provide the same safety net it did in the first two rounds of the playoffs against Houston and Golden State.

"We will see how we play," Sloan said. "We have to have a tremendous effort to try to beat this team. We have to do a better job trying to stop the pick-and-roll stuff and try to keep from getting the three-point shots out of that."

The Jazz erased a two-games-to-none deficit to win in seven games over the Rockets in their tought first-round series and won three games here to close out the Warriors.

"I hope our players feel like they can come back," Sloan said. "That's the most important thing. Let's gain a little confidence and hopefully play better when situations get tough."

In Game Two, superstar Tim Duncan had 26 points and 14 rebounds as the Spurs broke open a close game in the second quarter en route to a 105-96 victory on Tuesday.

Tony Parker had 17 points and a career playoff-high 14 assists and Manu Ginobili also scored 17 points for San Antonio, which set a team playoff record with 13 3-pointers.

But Just as Utah looks to continue its home-court domination, San Antonio will rely on history as it is 11-1 all-time when taking when taking a 2-0 edge in a series since 1998.

"We're going to have to bring much more effort than we had here to beat those guys in Utah," Duncan said. "We're going to go in there, try to get that first game and really put the pressure on them."

The Spurs lone setback came in the form of a Western semifinal loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games in 2004.

Carlos Boozer collected 33 points and 15 boards and Deron Williams added 26 and 10 assists for the Jazz, who have been outscored, 63-33, in the second quarter so far.