Spurs do some Barry good shooting

SAN ANTONIO — Shooters are shooters. Sometimes they're hot, sometimes they're cold.

In San Antonio's 105-96 Game 2 victory Tuesday, Spurs guards Brent Barry and Bruce Bowen, neither of whom average double figures, each went through a hot stretch that broke the Utah Jazz's will on a pair of occasions.

In the second quarter Barry buried three 3-pointers to extend the Spurs' halftime lead to 17. In the fourth quarter, as the Jazz gradually whittled away at San Antonio's lead, Bowen buried three treys of his own to ensure that the Spurs held on for the 2-0 series lead.

Barry's 3-pointers were the most painful for the Jazz, and the most head-scratching.

Prior to Tuesday, Barry hadn't scored a single point in three straight playoff games, having missed seven straight shots, five of them 3-pointers.

None of that mattered in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.

In a decisive second quarter in which San Antonio outscored Utah 32-17, Barry provided the necessary spark on 3-of-3 shooting from downtown to help San Antonio open up a 58-41 halftime lead.

His first trey came at the 5:51 mark, helping San Antonio extend its lead to 40-31. His second make came less than two minutes later and his last 3-pointer of the half occurred with 8.9 seconds remaining, putting the Spurs in front by 17.

Ironically enough, Barry was held scoreless the rest of the way.

Bowen's first 3-pointer, and his first points of the game, came with under nine minutes remaining and, in many ways, was the shot of the game. After the Jazz opened up the fourth quarter on an 11-2 run, Bowen buried a trey to extend San Antonio's lead to 86-83.

During the next six minutes, the Spurs' defensive specialist hit a 3-pointer to make it 89-78 and then another to make it 98-83.

"Down the stretch, Bowen was phenomenal hitting the 3s," said teammate Robert Horry.

For the game, San Antonio made 13-of-26 3-pointers compared to Utah's 3 of 11.

A big key to San Antonio's hot shooting from long range was point guard Tony Parker's penetration in the lane. In fact, of his playoff career-high 14 assists, seven were the direct result of 3-pointers by teammates.

"That's what they're giving us. Every time I penetrate they are wide open so I guess they're forcing us to make our best shot and tonight we made our shots," he said.