Blowout has Popovich singing another song

The Spurs coach was angered by a 26-point loss to the Jazz.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Before Game 3 of the Western Conference finals, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich talked about how his team has learned over the years to be even-tempered in the playoffs, treating wins as a relief and losses as learning opportunities.

Then came a 26-point loss to the Utah Jazz Saturday night — and a confession Sunday afternoon.

“I lied,” Popovich said, laughing.

Popovich was angry when the game ended and disgusted hours later when he and his assistant coaches watched replays.

They saw Tim Duncan get into foul trouble and unable to deal with it, Utah’s Deron Williams go wherever he wanted whenever he wanted and, worst of all, their veteran team pretty much give up once the Jazz got rolling in the second half.

San Antonio players showed up for a team meeting Sunday morning bracing for a brutal film session. Popovich is the kind of coach who uses lots of slow motion and freeze frames to pinpoint mistakes and not-so-politely ask what they were thinking, and they’d given him plenty of material.

Change of pace

But Popovich decided making them watch the film would be “cruel and unusual punishment,” so he only gave them a verbal lashing about all the things he expects them to do better in Game 4 tonight.

“It’s tough to watch a massacre, especially when you’re the one being decapitated,” said Michael Finley, in his second season with the Spurs but already appreciative of Popovich’s mercy. “It would’ve been long because he stops on every play. Why continue to beat a dead horse?”

It probably has more to do with what Popovich was saying before Saturday’s game, about his team knowing what it’s doing this time of year. Recent history proves it.

Bouncebacks

Since Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili became a trio in 2002-03, the Spurs have lost nine other playoff games by at least 12 points. They are 5-4 in the following game, including a bounceback win last round against Phoenix.

More importantly, the lopsided losses have come in eight different series — and San Antonio has recovered to win six of them.

It’s also worth noting that the Spurs were leading every series at the time of their meltdowns, which hints a lack of focus was as much to blame as whatever their opponents did.

“We have a lot of areas that we can clean up very easily,” Duncan said. “If we do those things, I think we’ll be in the right position.”

Utah’s Derek Fisher knows the deal. And as the wise veteran in the Jazz locker room, he’ll make sure his young teammates, most of whom had never been past the first round until this postseason, don’t get carried away with this one win, no matter how impressive it was.

“I just don’t see it carrying over much,” Fisher said. “I think it almost works against you. It’s almost embarrassing when you’re at that level that they’ve reached, in terms of how they probably feel. So I think tomorrow they come back with some pretty serious intensity and pretty serious focus. That’s what we have to expect.”

The game is in Salt Lake City, which bodes well for the Jazz. They are 7-0 at home this postseason and 3-0 against the Spurs there counting the regular season.