With 5:35 left in a game that had already long since gotten out of hand, and his bench long since emptied, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called a timeout.
Utah’s Georges Niang had just finished an easy-does-it layup to put the Jazz ahead by 31 points.
The timeout Popovich called, late in a 130-109 defeat, wasn’t exactly an angry one.
But it was purposeful.
His message to a learning-on-the-job five-man group that might have otherwise been playing in the G League on Sunday?
“Keep playing, work on your defense, try to do everything we’re trying to teach you,” Popovich said. “It’s a good hunk of minutes, so take advantage of it.”
On a night in which the best thing that happened for the Spurs was that their opponent didn’t quite set a club record for 3-pointers made, it was the Jazz who were doing most of the teaching.
Behind 28 points from Bojan Bogdanovic and 22 points and nine assists from All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell, Utah set fire to AT&T Center nets and made the Spurs swallow the ashes on the way to their fourth consecutive defeat.
The Jazz converted 21 of 41 from beyond the arc, making more 3-pointers than the Spurs attempted (6 of 19).
Utah came one 3-pointer shy of matching the franchise single-game record of 22 set in a loss to Denver in the Orlando, Fla., bubble in August.
It added up to the most lopsided loss of the season for the 2-4 Spurs.
“It all starts with effort and holding each other accountable with what we do defensively,” guard Lonnie Walker IV said. “We have the defensive talent. We’ve just got to put it all together.”
The Spurs could start by locating Bogdanovic, the 31-year-old sniper from Bosnia and Herzegovina who rates as one of the NBA’s sweetest-shooting forwards.
Bogdanovic had been in a bit of a slump to open the season, hitting only 10 of 33 attempts from long range coming into Sunday.
He broke out in a big way against the Spurs, making 6 of 7 from distance and 10 of 13 overall.
“He had some really good looks to get going,” said Spurs forward Keldon Johnson, who led his team with 22 points on 10 of 16 shooting. “Those are some things we’ve got to work on. We can’t give good shooters easy looks.”
Unfortunately for the Spurs, Bogdanovic wasn’t their only issue Sunday.
“They were all shooting the hell out of the ball today,” Walker said.
Mitchell went 5 of 9 from 3-point land, Royce O’Neal went 3 of 4 and Mike Conley went 3 of 6.
Jordan Clarkson, a Wagner High grad who tends to torment his hometown team, notched 18 points off the bench including a pair of 3-pointers of his own.
Having remade themselves as a 3-point shooting machine in their seventh season under coach Quin Snyder, attempting more than 39 per game before Sunday, the Jazz shot themselves to a 21-point lead in the second quarter.
Utah made 11 of 22 3-point tries in the first half, and went into the locker room at intermission ahead 65-51.
“Obviously that’s a conscious decision strategically on the part of Quin and his staff,” Popovich said. “He’s instituted a system that’s worked very well for the group he has.”
The damage Utah wreaked marked the return of a last-season problem for the Spurs.
Heading into the new campaign, Popovich made not getting bombed into oblivion from 3-point range a focus point for the Spurs.
Through the first five games, the Spurs had played opponents to a draw from beyond the arc, both scoring and giving up a total of 174 points.
They could not keep up with the Jazz (4-2) from 3-point range Sunday.
When Bogdanovic drained back-to-back 3-pointers with 7:46 remaining in the first half, it put the Jazz ahead 50-29 and marked the Spurs’ largest deficit of the season.
“We weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be, contact-wise,” said Popovich, whose team has trailed by double digits in five of six games this season. “They got away from us that way. … Overall, we’ve got to play a little more consistently in a physical manner. We were a little soft.”
Johnson produced his second consecutive game of at least 20 points for the Spurs, earning praise from Popovich as the team’s “brightest spot” so far.
DeMar DeRozan added 19 points on 9 of 17 shooting.
With All-NBA defender Rudy Gobert clogging the paint, the rest of the Spurs struggled to get much going. They shot 41.9 percent, with Dejounte Murray’s 1-for-13 performance dragging down the average.
“They made a lot of threes, and we didn’t finish in the paint,” Popovich said. “If you’re not going to get a three, you’ve got to finish at the rim. We didn’t do that very well.”
Credit Gobert for some of the Spurs’ struggles. The 28-year-old Jazz center blocked six shots and grabbed 16 rebounds.
By the end of the game, white flag flapping, Popovich turned to some of his youngest players to finish the game.
Rookies Devin Vassell and Tre Jones were on the floor at the end. So was second-year forward Luka Samanic and third-year former two-way player Drew Eubanks.
The 25-year-old Trey Lyles, who is in his sixth NBA season, was the most experienced player in the game when Popovich used his final timeout.
Even if the game was all but decided, Popovich preached, there was something to be gained by finishing strong.
“Any experience is good experience,” Walker said. “To be able to get on the floor, make mistakes, learn from your lessons and just progress is good. Having those guys get their feet wet, get comfortable and see what they can do, it does matter.”
Give the younger Spurs this much. After making 21 3-pointers in the first 42½ minutes of the game, the Jazz made none in the final 5½.
On a night little else went right for the Spurs, it was something.
jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN
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