Jazz need to grow up quickly vs. experienced Spurs

	Deron Williams will try to carry over his big second half in the series opener into Game 2. AP

SAN ANTONIO -- Are the Utah Jazz too young to win the championship this year? We'll find out Tuesday night.

Lose Game 2 here and they'll need to win four of the remaining five against the Spurs, who don't seem capable of such a collapse.

But if the Jazz build on their impressive second half from Game 1 and return to Salt Lake City this weekend with home court advantage, the Spurs will have reason to worry.

"The fact that most of our guys have never been there before, we've just got to take it one game at a time and work our way back into it,'' said Derek Fisher, one of the few Jazz who has played this deep into the postseason.

Fisher hoped that that his teammates' innocence may keep them oblivious to the pressures. But coach Jerry Sloan's message was less nuanced the morning after Utah's opening 108-100 loss: "We don't have all day to screw around with it.''

The Suns can tell the Jazz all about how quickly a series can leak away. Each Phoenix loss leading up to Game 6 in the previous round carried a different excuse -- Steve Nash's bleeding nose in Game 1, Amaré Stoudemire's foul trouble in Game 3, the suspensions in Game 5 ... and just like that the Suns were done, even though they felt they should have won any or all of the first five games.

The Spurs know how to convert their experience into results.

"In playoff situations, as the pressure rises like now in the Western Conference finals, experience allows you to be who you are,'' Fisher said. "You are not out there trying to do too much. It is not overwhelming in terms of the pace you have to do to win and be successful. Obviously with the collective experience that the Spurs have, they can be the Spurs -- they don't have to try to play at a higher level or come up with a different game plan. They know how to get it done.''

But they were also looking tired while being outscored 64-54 in the second half of Game 1, less than two days after their enervating six-game series with Phoenix. That's why coach Gregg Popovich excused his team from practicing Monday. It's also why the Jazz must exploit their hosts' fatigue and win while the victory can lead to something.

They can do it by establishing Carlos Boozer, who struggled in his opening game against Houston before dominating that first-round series. He is capable of turning his 10-point performance from the fourth quarter Sunday into a 30-point explosion in Game 2.

"I got in foul trouble so early,'' Boozer said, "so it was hard to get a good feel for the game. Once I figured it out, I figured out a way to score.''

Jazz second-year point guard Deron Williams blew up for 26 points in the second half. Can he apply the same approach to a full game?

"I was trying to get my teammates involved early. I got away from being aggressive,'' he said. "It will be big for us, big for our confidence to come here and get a win.''

On the other hand, Utah has lost 17 straight here since 1999. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are peaking, and Popovich wants them to keep applying the pressure that will prevent the Jazz from maturing at San Antonio's expense.

"At one point the Bulls were a team that didn't have a whole lot of experience and all of a sudden they were there,'' Popovich said. "Utah can be one of those same teams. They have a lot of fine, young talent, they play hard. That can overcome experience.''

It's too early to say that Utah must win. But if they're serious about preventing San Antonio from winning its third title in five years, this is a game the Jazz can't afford to lose.