• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Jazz aim to stave off elimination vs. Spurs in Game Five

May 30, 2007 - 1:17 PM Utah at San Antonio 9:00 pm EDT Western Conference finals Spurs lead, 3-1

SAN ANTONIO (Ticker) -- In Game Four, the Utah Jazz picked up their first loss at home this postseason. As a result, the San Antonio Spurs are on the brink of their fourth trip to the NBA Finals since 1999.

Trailing, 3-1, the Jazz aim to stave off elimination when they take on the Spurs in Game Five of the best-of-seven Western Conference finals on Wednesday night.

Manu Ginobili scored 16 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter and Tim Duncan collected 19, nine rebounds and five blocks as San Antonio posted a 91-79 victory over Utah in Game Four of the Western Conference finals on Monday.

The impressive victory came two nights after the the Jazz picked up their first win of the series with a 109-83 throttling of the Spurs. But it was not as easy against the a prepared San Antonio team, which had its antennas raised after the embarrassing loss.

"It was not - what we did in Game Three was not right," Ginobili said. "It was not the appropriate fear that we should have had."

The Jazz, who had been undefeated at home so far this postseason, also were 9-0 all-time at home vs. San Antonio in the playoffs prior to the loss. Utah got to within one point with 9:41 left but would get no closer, faltering down the stretch.

But despite ending their skid, the Spurs surprised no one with the victory.

Perennially one of the toughest teams in the NBA, San Antonio improved to 6-4 in games following a defeat by at least 12 points in the postseason since the 2002-03 campaign. But according to Ginobili, the Spurs cannot get too comfortable with their position.

"We got to stay humble. We got to know that they're not going to give us anything," Ginobili said. "If we are going to win Game Five, it is going to be because we played hard and we really fight through it and have a good game. But we know these guys are not going to give us anything. It is going to be another tough battle."

Deron Williams, who played despite missing practice due to the stomach flu, continued to be Utah's most dominant force - collecting 27 points and 10 assists on Monday.

If necessary, Game Six will shift back to Utah on Friday.