Kleeman's Last Word

The Deron Williams Equation

The Spurs seem destined to grab their fourth NBA title since Tim Duncan hopped on board in the 1997-1998 season, but one pesky little biscuit-eater stands in between a supposed surefire trophy and reality.
Any Spurs fan who's watched Deron Williams haunt, torment and mangle the San Antonio defense to average 30 points should get the biscuit comparison pretty easily.
He might as well be using Bruce Bowen as butter, spreading him on a nice ripe bakery selection from Mrs. Bairds and putting him in a hot microwave.
Whatever silly analogy feeds your craving, the end result has been cataclysmically the same. It appears The Spurs will have to bring a live alligator on the floor to chomp at the young point guard.
Maybe throwing a bin of poisonous snakes at him will do the trick. Maybe sneaking some Ex-Lax into his desert next meal is just what the doctor ordered.
Whatever the strategy, it's obvious the veteran Spurs must stop this second year player from continuing to torture them if they have any hope of acquiring a fourth championship trophy.
With no playoff experience and a rough first year, Williams looks nothing like the kind of player he's supposed to be. Instead of fumbling and folding like any sophomore up-and-comer should do, he looks like a superstar poised to make John Stockton look like the vanilla ice cream of the point guard position.
While it's clear this young talent has not surpassed the hall-of-famer Stockton in just two years of professional play, you wouldn't know it just watching the games in this series.
He has no playoff experience and runs the same tired old pick and roll play you've seen from the Utah Jazz since Jerry Sloan showed up to coach 22 years ago.
The Spurs, and Bowen in particular, have not found been able to treat Williams accordingly and have instead been made to look like a less appetizing edition of that wonderful Washington Wizards defense (which has yet to rear its head).

Williams has treated these playoffs like an all-you-can eat buffet, grabbing whatever layup, three pointer or assist he wants. He has answered to no defender and when Bowen began unleashing a higher level of physicality on the guard in game 3, he shrugged and admitted he likes a bumping from time to time.

Of course, Carlos Boozer has also been spectacular, hardly looking like a second round draft pick, reduced in his fourth season to the middle of the Cleveland Cavalier bench.

The Spurs enter game 4 tonight knowing they're the better team, knowing that Williams's and Boozer's domination is all wrong. That Utah's continued success in the postseason and especially at home must be some sick joke.

Unfortunately, as evidenced by the Jazz's 109-83 blowout in game 3, the Spurs can't crack the crafty punchline.

Like some April Fools joke gone terribly wrong, the Spurs are up 2-1 in this best-of-seven Western Conference Finals and yet find themselves on the ropes, with questions looming about whether they can contain Williams. Yes, Williams, the second year player with no previous playoff experience.

The Spurs will have to figure out if the guard is really that good or if their defense has really been that bad.

The answer will say a lot about the Spurs' chances of advancing to the NBA Finals for the fourth time in the Tim Duncan era.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 11:04 PM