House of horrors — Despite past failures in San Antonio, Jazz optimistic about breaking through

SAN ANTONIO — They're winless in their nine games at the latest home of the Spurs, AT&T Center. Winless, in fact, in their last 16 games altogether in San Antonio.

How do the Jazz overcome the reality of their struggles on the road against their latest playoff opponent?

Several had ideas Saturday, the morning after Utah learned it would face the Spurs in a best-of-seven Western Conference finals series that gets under way today in San Antonio.

"Don't even think about it," point guard Deron Williams said after the Spurs knocked out Phoenix on Friday night.

"We never pay attention too much to what media said, or what the record is, the history," forward Andrei Kirilenko added. "Every game is different."

So too, they'll try to believe, is the postseason.

"We know we struggled there ... but we feel like this is another season," Williams said. "It's not the same. We're not the same team that we were during the season. So, we've got to put all that behind us and try to get one."

Then there is this approach, with a respectful nod to the past:

"We try to change history," said power forward Carlos Boozer, whose matchup with two-time NBA MVP Tim Duncan will be a focal point of the series.

"We go down there with the mindset that what happened before is behind us," Boozer added. "We're obviously a different team than a lot of those losses, and we're playing much better than the losses that we contributed to."

Rather than attempt to suppress it, then, Boozer embraces what happened before he happened along three years ago.

That in mind, he believes the Jazz should try to remember first and foremost that they went 2-2 against this Spurs this season — yet also not forget that their last victory in San Antonio came Feb. 28, 1999, way back back when dinosaurs John Stockton, Karl Malone and Jeff Hornacek were all active NBA players.

"No matter what the players are, it's the Utah Jazz," Boozer said. "Now the players, they're gonna come and go. But it's us, and we're all part of the history here."