Jazz, Spurs launch series today

The best-of-seven Western finals will begin this afternoon in San Antonio.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — After the drama both on and off the court that the Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs faced during the Western Conference semifinals, the teams are looking forward to just playing the game.

And getting reacquainted in the postseason. The teams last met in the playoffs in 1998, when the Jazz eliminated San Antonio on their way to the NBA finals, where they lost to Chicago.

“We are two teams that try to do the same thing, just put the ball in, play from the inside out, when we have the opportunity we are going to run,” Spurs star Manu Ginobili said. “It’s going to be fun with a lot of good plays and tough possessions, hard to score. So, we’ll see what happens.”

Game 1 of the best-of-seven series to decide the West is this afternoon in San Antonio.

“They don’t make any mistakes,” Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. “They’re terrific. They do a great job. Their coach does a great job with them. They’ve got everything you want.”

Last time in 1998

The 1998 playoffs were the last time the Jazz made it to the conference finals. The Spurs won the conference finals in 1999, 2003 and 2005 and went on to win the championship all three times. In 2001 they made it to the conference finals, but lost to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The teams split the season series 2-2, with each team winning its two home games. The Jazz have lost their last 16 games in San Antonio, dating to 1999.

“We try to change history. We go down there with the mind-set that what happened before is behind us,” Utah’s Carlos Boozer said. “We’re obviously a different team than a lot of those losses. ... We’re looking forward to making some new history, hopefully.”

The Jazz won their second-round series with the Golden State Warriors in five games, while the Spurs took six games to eliminate the Phoenix Suns.

Marked by rough play

The Spurs’ series with the Suns was marked by rough play that resulted in one bloodied and bruised eye for Ginobili and six stitches to close a gash across the nose for the Suns’ Steve Nash.

Nash also went tumbling into the scorer’s table at the end of Game 4 after a flagrant foul from Robert Horry. The incident resulted in a two-game suspension for Horry and a one-game suspension for the Suns’ Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for leaving the bench during the minor scuffle.

Hostile words also were exchanged as Stoudemire early on called the Spurs a “dirty team” and targeted Bruce Bowen and Ginobili in particular.