San Antonio • The Jazz’s locker-room door opened Saturday night and C.J. Miles sat hunched down in a chair, studying a box score, while Paul Millsap eyed rows of statistics over his teammates’ shoulder.

Utah had fallen 104-89 to the San Antonio Spurs. The Jazz shot just 37.1 percent from the floor, 12.5 percent behind the 3-point line, distributed only 11 assists and scored 21 points or less in the first three quarters.

With 9 minutes, 52 seconds left in the fourth, Utah (1-3) was down by 27 points and the team’s third blowout in four games to start the 2011-12 campaign was already in the books.

But what wasn’t in the box score were words such as effort, energy and communication. They were the same problems that plagued the Jazz during back-to-back road embarrassments to open the season. And they were the exact issues Utah coach Tyrone Corbin hammered home after watching San Antonio (3-1) run the Jazz out of the AT&T Center via a 20-8 second-quarter run that featured 11 consecutive points from Manu Ginobili, who scored a game-high 23 and drilled 5 of 6 3s.

Al Jefferson led Utah with a team-high 21 points and 11 rebounds, while reserve Josh Howard added 18 points and seven boards.

Corbin knows this will be an at times rough, at times joyous season for the Jazz. Utah’s young and rebuilding, but still trying to win games with veterans such as Devin Harris, Millsap and Jefferson. As a result, unpredictability will rein.

But the one thing Corbin’s squad can control is its nightly effort. And after seeing the Jazz lose three games by an average of 19 points – all featuring big-time, game-changing runs by the victors – consistent effort could be the one trait that keeps Utah moving forward even if defeats pile up.

“We need to keep searching for who we are. We just need to make sure we understand that we need to keep working to get better,” said Corbin, who kept the locker room closed longer than normal for the second game in the three contests.

Story continues below

He added: “We just need to make sure the guys understand that it’s a long season. We need to stay together and work.”

Sticking together was again a familiar postgame refrain. Reserve forward Derrick Favors said it’s the Jazz’s primary problem when on-the-court play falls apart, while veteran backup point guard Earl Watson said Utah’s shown a tendency to cave when it falls behind on the road.

The Jazz have trailed by double-digits in all four games this season, and Utah had to come back from 13 points down Friday to knock off Philadelphia at home.

“We’re a different team on the road. It’s obvious, for whatever reason,” Watson said. “But you can’t sit there and look for the reason why. You have to look for the reason how to win on the road. First, we’ve got to start getting close.”

The Spurs made that goal almost impossible. San Antonio ran a shooting clinic during the first half, burning Utah on rotations that left the Jazz’s perimeter naked and allowed the Spurs to drain 80 percent (8 of 10) of their 3s.

After Utah was lifted by its youth movement Friday, Saturday was a replay of blowouts to the: poor defense, a methodical and lethargic offense, and energy that occasionally spurted but never became in vogue.

Now, the Jazz return to Salt Lake City staring at a cushion of 12 of 15 January games at EnergySolutions Arena. But two months of brutal road travel follows, and Corbin’s more concerned with his team’s progress and evolution than random home wins.

“It’s going to be up and down for a while until we get [settled],” he said. “It’s just not the way that you lose games – it means something the way we play in a losing ballgame. For the most part, the 48-minute effort that we’re looking for, we haven’t gotten in the losses.”

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There is the quick update of the day.

Published: Dec. 31, 2011 at 11:52 PM

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Reporting from San Antonio — They are the new-look Clippers, a team with savvy veterans, All-Stars and with high hopes for the season.

But these Clippers will tell anyone that will listen that this is a process that will take time before they can become whole.

In the process of that happening, these Clippers got treated like all the other Clippers teams before them, taking a beating from the San Antonio Spurs, 115-90, Wednesday night at the AT&T Center.

The 2011-12 Clippers were put through the same torture chamber the Clippers before them have experienced, extending the losing streak in San Antonio to 17 games. The last victory came here on Jan. 31, 2002.

The Spurs own a 64-8 margin over the Clippers here and have won 19 of the last 20 games overall.

“This is the start of a process for us,” Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said. “We’ve got to find a way to get better every day. I keep on talking about that. It’s not going to be easy.”

One place the Clippers have to start the process is on defense.

They trailed by as much as 27 points.

They allowed the Spurs to make 56.3% of their shots, 52.6% (10 for 19) on three-pointers.

“We haven’t been together for how many days? We’re not making any excuses,” said Chris Paul, one of the new Clippers. “So, yeah, it [defense] can be an issue that can be resolved. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

They seemingly couldn’t stop any of the Spurs.

Manu Ginobili had 24 points on six-for-10 shooting, five for eight on three-pointers.

DeJuan Blair had 20 points on 10-for-15 shooting and Richard had Jefferson 19 points on eight-for-nine shooting, three for four on three-pointers.

Tony Parker had 10 of his 14 points in the decisive third quarter, when the Spurs outscored the Clippers, 38-17.

“We just played terrible, just from start to finish, I thought,” Del Negro said.

Unlike the Clippers, the Spurs have been together for a while, something that Chauncey Billups says benefits San Antonio during the 66-game season.

Tim Duncan (35), Ginobili (34) and Parker (29) have won three NBA championships together.

“I just think in a season like this, where it was a short camp, a team like that is going to prosper,” Billups, also one of the new Clippers, said after scoring 11 points. “They’ve got all their guys back that have played together. But at the same time, we’re down four at the half and to get beat by 25, that’s not pretty.”

The Clippers trailed by 15 in the second quarter, but pulled to within four at halftime.

They went down by 25 in the third and never recovered.

Their defense was the worst of the game at that point. The Clippers saw the Spurs do as they pleased in shooting 76.2% from the field in the third quarter.

“They are not going to beat themselves. You’ve got to beat them,” said Paul, who finished with 10 points and nine assists. “We’ve got to defend.”

Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 28 points and nine rebounds.

It mattered little because the Clippers were so porous on defense.

Six Spurs scored in double figures, and they showed the Clippers how defense is played, limiting them to 39.2% shooting.

“We’re not there yet,” Paul said. “When you get to that point in the season where we just stop teams, that’s when you’re ready.”

broderick.turner@latimes.com

twitter.com/BA_Turner

Thanks for visiting our blog =).

Reporting from San Antonio — They are the new-look Clippers, a team with savvy veterans, All-Stars and with high hopes for the season.

But these Clippers will tell anyone that will listen that this is a process that will take time before they can become whole.

In the process of that happening, these Clippers got treated like all the other Clippers teams before them, taking a beating from the San Antonio Spurs, 115-90, Wednesday night at the AT&T Center.

The 2011-12 Clippers were put through the same torture chamber the Clippers before them have experienced, extending the losing streak in San Antonio to 17 games. The last victory came here on Jan. 31, 2002.

The Spurs own a 64-8 margin over the Clippers here and have won 19 of the last 20 games overall.

“This is the start of a process for us,” Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said. “We’ve got to find a way to get better every day. I keep on talking about that. It’s not going to be easy.”

One place the Clippers have to start the process is on defense.

They trailed by as much as 27 points.

They allowed the Spurs to make 56.3% of their shots, 52.6% (10 for 19) on three-pointers.

“We haven’t been together for how many days? We’re not making any excuses,” said Chris Paul, one of the new Clippers. “So, yeah, it [defense] can be an issue that can be resolved. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

They seemingly couldn’t stop any of the Spurs.

Manu Ginobili had 24 points on six-for-10 shooting, five for eight on three-pointers.

DeJuan Blair had 20 points on 10-for-15 shooting and Richard had Jefferson 19 points on eight-for-nine shooting, three for four on three-pointers.

Tony Parker had 10 of his 14 points in the decisive third quarter, when the Spurs outscored the Clippers, 38-17.

“We just played terrible, just from start to finish, I thought,” Del Negro said.

Unlike the Clippers, the Spurs have been together for a while, something that Chauncey Billups says benefits San Antonio during the 66-game season.

Tim Duncan (35), Ginobili (34) and Parker (29) have won three NBA championships together.

“I just think in a season like this, where it was a short camp, a team like that is going to prosper,” Billups, also one of the new Clippers, said after scoring 11 points. “They’ve got all their guys back that have played together. But at the same time, we’re down four at the half and to get beat by 25, that’s not pretty.”

The Clippers trailed by 15 in the second quarter, but pulled to within four at halftime.

They went down by 25 in the third and never recovered.

Their defense was the worst of the game at that point. The Clippers saw the Spurs do as they pleased in shooting 76.2% from the field in the third quarter.

“They are not going to beat themselves. You’ve got to beat them,” said Paul, who finished with 10 points and nine assists. “We’ve got to defend.”

Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 28 points and nine rebounds.

It mattered little because the Clippers were so porous on defense.

Six Spurs scored in double figures, and they showed the Clippers how defense is played, limiting them to 39.2% shooting.

“We’re not there yet,” Paul said. “When you get to that point in the season where we just stop teams, that’s when you’re ready.”

broderick.turner@latimes.com

twitter.com/BA_Turner

Gotta run!.

Grizzlies vs. San Antonio Spurs

AT&T Center, San Antonio, 7:30 p.m.

TV, radio: SportSouth, WMFS 92.9-FM/680-AM

Records: This is the season opener for both teams.

Lineups

Grizzlies: Mike Conley, 6-1, Tony Allen, 6-4, Rudy Gay, 6-8, Zach Randolph, 6-9, Marc Gasol, 7-1.

Spurs: Tony Parker, 6-2, Manu Ginobili, 6-6, Richard Jefferson, 6-7, Tim Duncan, 6-11, Tiago Splitter, 6-11.

THE SKINNY

The Grizzlies will begin their most anticipated season in Memphis on the road against the team they ejected from the playoffs last season. Memphis began its historic playoff run by eliminating top-seeded San Antonio in the first round. This rematch of that series will feature most of the same players, as neither team dramatically changed its roster. Last season, San Antonio finished tied with Chicago for the NBA’s best home record at 36-5. But the Western Conference is changing. Memphis and San Antonio split four regular-season meetings in 2010-11, though the Spurs have won 14 of the last 16 matchups at home including the playoffs.

– Ronald Tillery

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Published Saturday, December 24, 2011 8:22 PM

By PAUL J. WEBER
Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO — If this really is Tim Duncan’s final season, a perfect ending won’t come easy.

The four-time NBA champion has won just one playoff series in the last three years. Tony Parker himself called the San Antonio Spurs finished as contenders in May, before later walking back that blunt assessment of his own team.

The Spurs didn’t find an upgrade from Richard Jefferson after the lockout, and in a sign of how badly they need big men, couldn’t talk 37-year-old Antonio McDyess into playing another season.

That leaves Duncan, entering his 15th season and the end of his contract, making perhaps his last try for a fifth title with largely the same group that hasn’t come close lately.

“This is basically the same team,” Duncan said. “We have as good an opportunity as anyone else. We have that experience a lot of people are going to work for.”

Duncan arrived at training camp insisting he’s not yet thinking about retirement. He’ll be 36 when the playoffs roll around and will make $21 million this season, behind only Kobe Bryant ($25 million) and Rashard Lewis ($22 million).

The big payday is Duncan’s reward for making the Spurs the winningest franchise in major professional sports the past 14 years, surpassing even the New England Patriots or New York Yankees in winning percentage. Even last year, against all expectations, the Spurs won 61 games and reclaimed the Western Conference’s top seed.

It still wasn’t good enough.

It was easy to read into San Antonio’s first-round loss as more than an upset. The Memphis Grizzlies, quick and big, made the Spurs look slow and small.

Weeks after losing to Memphis in six games, Parker was in Paris telling French journalists that was the last chance for the aging Spurs, whose last title was in 2007. “We will always have a good team but can no longer say we’re playing for a championship,” he said.

Parker later backed away from those remarks, and returned to San Antonio this month with a cheerier outlook.

“A lot of young teams are coming up, so we just have to make sure we can keep up and be competitive,” Parker said. “You have to be positive and you have to believe in your team. I definitely believe in my team. Hopefully we can stay healthy and not have those little bumps like last year.”

If San Antonio does have another run left in them, it’ll be up to mostly the same cast. That includes Jefferson, who survived last week’s amnesty deadline after the Spurs had a chance to part ways with the underachieving swingman who is due $9.2 million this season.

The Spurs courted free agents Caron Butler and Josh Howard. Though after it became apparent Jefferson would make it to opening day, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich defended his starting small forward as an improving defender and reliable 3-point shooter.

“It’s kind of interesting. Everybody always asked about amnesty, and I always wondered why Richard, Richard, Richard,” Popovich said. “As if we didn’t advance in the playoffs because of Richard. I don’t think anybody played great.”

Be that as it may, the Spurs may have landed Jefferson’s eventual replacement in rookie Kawhi Leonard. Selected 15th overall by Indiana, the 6-foot-7 forward was dealt in a draft-day trade for guard George Hill, who was Parker’s backup and a budding star in the Popovich’s eyes.

Yet it was a price Popovich says he was willing to pay. The 20-year-old Leonard brings not only youth and size but a knack for defense, which Popovich is reprioritizing after the Spurs were — rather atypically — better known for outscoring teams than stopping them last season.

Parker (17.5 points per game) and 34-year-old Ginobili (17.4 points) will again drive San Antonio’s offense from the backcourt, and veteran T.J. Ford replaces Hill off the bench. The frontcourt is a larger concern: with McDyess gone, the big men left are 3-point marksman Matt Bonner, undersized 6-foot-7 center DeJuan Blair and 7-footer Tiago Splitter.

Then there’s Duncan. The two-time MVP, whose scoring and rebounding (13.4 and 8.9) were career lows last year, is the only Spurs player left from the 1999 team that won the franchise’s first championship in that lockout-shortened season.

Duncan draws no comparisons to then and now. He just knows the toll awaiting him in the compressed schedule ahead.

“It wasn’t a grind to me then,” Duncan recalled of 1999. “I was running like a deer up and down every day. I wanted to play. But this is going to feel different, I know it.”

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SAN ANTONIO (AP)—If this really is Tim Duncan’s final season, a perfect
ending won’t come easy.

The four-time NBA champion has won just one playoff series in the last three
years. Tony Parker himself called the San Antonio Spurs finished as contenders
in May, before later walking back that blunt assessment of his own team.

The Spurs didn’t find an upgrade from Richard Jefferson after the lockout,
and in a sign of how badly they need big men, couldn’t talk 37-year-old Antonio
McDyess into playing another season.

That leaves Duncan, entering his 15th season and the end of his contract,
making perhaps his last try for a fifth title with largely the same group that
hasn’t come close lately.

“This is basically the same team,” Duncan said. “We have as good an
opportunity as anyone else. We have that experience a lot of people are going to
work for.”

Duncan arrived at training camp insisting he’s not yet thinking about
retirement. He’ll be 36 when the playoffs roll around and will make $21 million
this season, behind only Kobe Bryant ($25 million) and Rashard Lewis ($22
million).

The big payday is Duncan’s reward for making the Spurs the winningest
franchise in major professional sports the past 14 years, surpassing even the
New England Patriots or New York Yankees in winning percentage. Even last year,
against all expectations, the Spurs won 61 games and reclaimed the Western
Conference’s top seed.

It still wasn’t good enough.

It was easy to read into San Antonio’s first-round loss as more than an
upset. The Memphis Grizzlies, quick and big, made the Spurs look slow and small.

Weeks after losing to Memphis in six games, Parker was in Paris telling
French journalists that was the last chance for the aging Spurs, whose last
title was in 2007. “We will always have a good team but can no longer say we’re
playing for a championship,” he said.

Parker later backed away from those remarks, and returned to San Antonio
this month with a cheerier outlook.

“A lot of young teams are coming up, so we just have to make sure we can
keep up and be competitive,” Parker said. “You have to be positive and you
have to believe in your team. I definitely believe in my team. Hopefully we can
stay healthy and not have those little bumps like last year.”

If San Antonio does have another run left in them, it’ll be up to mostly the
same cast. That includes Jefferson, who survived last week’s amnesty deadline
after the Spurs had a chance to part ways with the underachieving swingman who
is due $9.2 million this season.

The Spurs courted free agents Caron Butler and Josh Howard. Though after it
became apparent Jefferson would make it to opening day, Spurs coach Gregg
Popovich defended his starting small forward as an improving defender and
reliable 3-point shooter.

“It’s kind of interesting. Everybody always asked about amnesty, and I
always wondered why Richard, Richard, Richard,” Popovich said. “As if we
didn’t advance in the playoffs because of Richard. I don’t think anybody played
great.”

Be that as it may, the Spurs may have landed Jefferson’s eventual
replacement in rookie Kawhi Leonard. Selected 15th overall by Indiana, the
6-foot-7 forward was dealt in a draft-day trade for guard George Hill, who was
Parker’s backup and a budding star in the Popovich’s eyes.

Yet it was a price Popovich says he was willing to pay. The 20-year-old
Leonard brings not only youth and size but a knack for defense, which Popovich
is reprioritizing after the Spurs were—rather atypically—better known for
outscoring teams than stopping them last season.

Parker (17.5 points per game) and 34-year-old Ginobili (17.4 points) will
again drive San Antonio’s offense from the backcourt, and veteran T.J. Ford
replaces Hill off the bench. The frontcourt is a larger concern: with McDyess
gone, the big men left are 3-point marksman Matt Bonner, undersized 6-foot-7
center DeJuan Blair and 7-footer Tiago Splitter.

Then there’s Duncan. The two-time MVP, whose scoring and rebounding (13.4
and 8.9) were career lows last year, is the only Spurs player left from the 1999
team that won the franchise’s first championship in that lockout-shortened
season.

Duncan draws no comparisons to then and now. He just knows the toll awaiting
him in the compressed schedule ahead.

“It wasn’t a grind to me then,” Duncan recalled of 1999. “I was running
like a deer up and down every day. I wanted to play. But this is going to feel
different, I know it.”

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08-Jun-11, 7:43 AM | Agence France-Presse

SAN ANTONIO – French guard Tony Parker says he still believes the San Antonio Spurs can be NBA champions or he would not have signed a four-year contract extension worth $50 million last month.

The 29-year-old’s belief in the team’s ability to capture the crown was called into question after comments last month in Paris after the Spurs, who led the NBA with 61 wins this season, were ousted by Memphis in round one of the playoffs.

“Newspapers need stories and to talk about stuff. I’m in a great situation to know what it is,” Parker told his Texas audience on Tuesday.

“I love the Spurs. I love being a Spur. I re-signed four years so if I didn’t believe we can win a championship I would not have signed.”

In an article posted on the FIBA website, Parker says, “We will always have a good team but can no longer say we’re playing for a championship.” In an accompanying video, Parker says this season was “sort of our last chance.”

Duncan made similar remarks about time running out before last year’s pre-season training camp. Part of the reasoning behind Parker’s comments was the age of Spurs’ star big man Tim Duncan, 35, and Argentine playmaker Manu Ginobili, who turns 34 in July.

Parker averaged 17.5 points and 6.6 assists for the Spurs last season and said he had no need to back down from what he had said in France.

“I don’t have to justify anything,” Parker said. “Me, bottom line, I love being a Spur and that’s why I signed four more years. I have nothing to justify to you. The only thing I care about is Pop, Timmy and Manu, and my teammates.”

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© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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SAN ANTONIO — Spurs guard Tony Parker on Tuesday backed off comments made to French journalists last month that San Antonio can no longer likely contend for another championship.

“You know newspapers need stories and to talk about stuff, and I’m in a great situation to know what it is,” Parker said. “I love the Spurs. I love being a Spur. I re-signed four years so if I didn’t believe we can win a championship I would not have signed.”

The former All-Star, however, didn’t exactly go out of his way to try to clarify the remarks made last month in Paris, a few weeks after the 61-win Spurs were upset in the first round by eighth-seeded Memphis.

An article on FIBA’s website quoted Parker as saying, “We will always have a good team but can no longer say we’re playing for a championship.” He added that it would be tough for the Spurs to regenerate themselves with Tim Duncan turning 36 next spring and Manu Ginobili turning 34 next month.

Parker is speaking French in the interview. A video of the interview, credited to the French sports daily L’Equipe, quotes Parker in English subtitles as saying, “It was sort of our last chance this season.”

Back in San Antonio on Tuesday, Parker brushed off the quotes, offering a vague explanation of French reporters getting carried away.

“I don’t have to justify anything,” Parker said. “Me, bottom line, I love being a Spur and that’s why I signed four more years. I have nothing to justify to you. The only thing I care about is [Spurs coach Gregg Popovich], Timmy and Manu, and my teammates.”

Parker has spent his entire NBA career with the Spurs, arriving in San Antonio at the age of 19 and winning the starting job that season. He turned 29 last month and begins a four-year, $50 million extension next season.

Parker was equally candid about San Antonio’s diminishing title hopes in training camp last October. He said then that he felt the upcoming season was the last chance for the Spurs to win a fifth championship in the Duncan era, again pointing toward the team’s aging core.

If this season was the Spurs’ last chance, they mostly spent it playing that way. They carried the league’s best record for practically the entire season and entered the playoffs with the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. But the youthful Grizzlies beat the Spurs in six games, making San Antonio just the fourth No. 1 seed to fall in the first round.

Parker averaged 17.5 points and 6.6 assists last season. He said no one within the Spurs contacted him after the interview in France was published.

“They know me, they don’t need to contact me,” Parker said. “Pop doesn’t have time right now. He’s drinking wine and having fun.”

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Comment Below!.

Spurs guard Tony Parker on Tuesday backed off comments made to French journalists last month that San Antonio can no longer likely contend for another championship.

“You know newspapers need stories and to talk about stuff, and I’m in a great situation to know what it is,” Parker said. “I love the Spurs. I love being a Spur. I re-signed four years so if I didn’t believe we can win a championship I would not have signed.”

The former All-Star, however, didn’t exactly go out of his way to try to clarify the remarks made last month in Paris, a few weeks after the 61-win Spurs were upset in the first round by eighth-seeded Memphis.

An article on FIBA’s website quoted Parker as saying, “We will always have a good team but can no longer say we’re playing for a championship.” He added that it would be tough for the Spurs to regenerate themselves with Tim Duncan turning 36 next spring and Manu Ginobili turning 34 next month.

Parker is speaking French in the interview. A video of the interview, credited to the French sports daily L’Equipe, quotes Parker in English subtitles as saying, “It was sort of our last chance this season.”

Back in San Antonio on Tuesday, Parker brushed off the quotes, offering a vague explanation of French reporters getting carried away.

“I don’t have to justify anything,” Parker said. “Me, bottom line, I love being a Spur and that’s why I signed four more years. I have nothing to justify to you. The only thing I care about is (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich), Timmy and Manu, and my teammates.”

Parker has spent his entire NBA career with the Spurs, arriving in San Antonio at the age of 19 and winning the starting job that season. He turned 29 last month and begins a four-year, $50 million extension next season.

Parker was equally candid about San Antonio’s diminishing title hopes in training camp last October. He said then that he felt the upcoming season was the last chance for the Spurs to win a fifth championship in the Duncan era, again pointing toward the team’s aging core.

If this season was the Spurs’ last chance, they mostly spent it playing that way. They carried the league’s best record for practically the entire season and entered the playoffs with the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. But the youthful Grizzlies beat the Spurs in six games, making San Antonio just the fourth No. 1 seed to fall in the first round.

Parker averaged 17.5 points and 6.6 assists last season. He said no one within the Spurs contacted him after the interview in France was published.

“They know me, they don’t need to contact me,” Parker said. “Pop doesn’t have time right now. He’s drinking wine and having fun.”

Gotta run!.

That’s all for today.