Tony Parker scored a game-high 28 points and the red-hot San Antonio Spurs rolled to a 106-91 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday in the opening game of their best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final.
For the West's top-seeded Spurs, who were upset in the opening round last year despite also being the No. 1 seed, the victory was their 11th consecutive after closing out the regular season with a 10-0 run.
After the Jazz held the regular season's second-highest scoring team to just two points in the game's first two minutes, the Spurs went on an 8-0 run late in the first quarter to grab control and broke open the contest with 31 points in the third.
Tim Duncan added 17 points and 11 rebounds while Stephen Jackson came off the bench to score 14 points for the Spurs, who at 50-16 shared the league's best regular season record with the Eastern Conference's Chicago Bulls.
Eighth-seeded Utah, which used a five-game winning streak to squeeze into the playoffs, was led by Paul Millsap's 20 points.
Game Two is Wednesday in San Antonio.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Salvo North Carolina; Editing by Frank Pingue)
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