[Basketball News]

SALT LAKE CITY, May 27, 2007 (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 on 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.

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 Monday night.

"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?''

Spurs Hope Experience Helps Them Bounce Back

[Lefty Noob]

Popovich will have them ready, and believe me. They'll be hungry to avenge that 26 point loss.

[Lefty Noob]

See, what'd I say? The Spurs win Game 4, beating the Jazz 91-79. Manu Ginobili scored 22 points, but the big story was the whistle-happy refs. According to the AP, "Utah drew four technicals fouls down the stretch, leading to the ejection of coach Jerry Sloan and usually mild-mannered Derek Fisher." They went on to call some of the calls "questionable". So did the Spurs earn this victory, or did the officials give it to them?