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SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder put it simply after his team lost to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night, Kawhi Leonard was really good.Leonard scored 29 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Spurs avenged their lone loss of the season with a 100-86 victory over the Jazz.The Spurs bounced back from a 15-point home loss to the Jazz on Tuesday after losing just one game in San Antonio all of last season.I expected for them to come out and try to get off to a great start and just sustain, and they did that, Jazz forward Joe Johnson said. After we kind of hit first, they withstood the first five minutes and made a run of their own. We just never really got back.(Leonard) is shooting the ball unbelievable off picks. Hes handling off pick-and-rolls and making plays. Hes been tough to guard.The Jazz jumped to a 10-2 lead in the first quarter and an unhappy Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called a timeout just minutes into the game. The Spurs responded with a 29-7 run and the Jazz never led again.Utah got within seven points in the third quarter, but Leonard responded with five quick points and the Jazz never got within single digits the rest of the game.Leonard continued his MVP-caliber season by shooting 9 for 18 from the field while LaMarcus Aldridge added 19 points and six rebounds.Rodney Hood led the Jazz with 18 points, but they shot just 37.5 percent.Its only two games, Popovich said about facing the Jazz twice. You win some, you lose some. Its not necessarily (that we) discovered the Holy Grail and instituted it tonight and won the game because of it. We played better.TIP-INSSpurs: G Tony Parker missed the game due to right knee soreness. He did not travel with the team. ... Patty Mills started at point guard and scored 16 points to go with three rebounds and three assists. Patty is a great offensive player and he has been playing really well running the offense, Spurs center Pau Gasol said. Tony is a very important player for us, but if he is taking this time off its because he needs it.Jazz: Gordon Hayward went through a pregame workout with the fingers on his left hand taped up. The star forward is out indefinitely with a broken finger on his non-shooting hand. ... F Boris Diaw missed his second consecutive game with a right leg contusion.NO WARMUPSThe Jazz season has started with four playoff teams in their first six games, including the Spurs twice. They hit the road for five straight and seven of nine away from Salt Lake City.The biggest thing for me is, you hope for your team to continue to improve, Snyder said. That is the primary thing. If competition early can accelerate that process, that is a good thing. Theres been times where that competition early can knock you back. So it can go either way.QUOTABLEOur identity as a defensive team has to be something we hold on tighter to, Snyder said. You can call that lack of focus. Its more subtle in some ways. For me its a lot of little things we werent doing. They add up.We have to know if were not focused and were not ready to play defense, we wont. Its not habitual yet. Its not who we are yet and its who we need to become who we are.UP NEXTSpurs: Host the Los Angeles Clippers and point guard Chris Paul, who entered Friday with a league-high 3.25 steals per game, on Saturday.Jazz: Travel to face a New York Knicks team on Sunday, that improved to 2/3 after a win over the Bulls on Friday. Walker Zimmerman Jersey . Now tied for second in the league in shootout goals, the 24-year-old likes to see what the opposing goaltender has in store before he ultimately lands on a move. Paul Arriola Jersey . Its 1987 and a Brazilian playmaker, known as Mirandinha, is being paraded around St James Park to the passionate Newcastle fans. http://www.usasoccerauthority.com/jesse-gonzalez-usa-jersey/ . But the quarterback hopes to stay involved in football after officially calling it quits Tuesday. "Id love to look at those opportunities as they arise," Pierce said in an interview from his Winnipeg eatery. Zack Steffen USA Jersey . It was hard for Luck to pull off another comeback, or even get into the end zone, while standing on the sideline. Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. Alejandro Bedoya USA Jersey . Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday that allowed the veteran right-hander to retire as a member of team with which he broke into the majors and spent the bulk of his distinguished 16-year career. BEREA, Ohio -- New England Patriots defensive lineman Jabaal Sheard represents one in a series of frustrating decisions by the Cleveland Browns the past few years, perennial Pro Bowl tackle Joe Thomas said Wednesday.Thomas compared the departure of young veterans like Sheard to gutting the teams middle class.Certainly thats one of the frustrations that Ive had over the years, Thomas said Wednesday. Thats the problem when youre constantly hitting the reset button. Guys that are really good players like that end up falling through the cracks or going to other teams because any time a new staff comes in basically they wipe out the middle class.They keep a couple of your superstars and then they want everyone else being a rookie so that they can try to develop them. When you keep doing that over and over again you really lose all your middle class on your team.The Browns roster that will face New England includes 17 rookies and four first-year players.Sheards tale seems to represent an entire group. New coaches and general managers come in and tend to dismiss the players signed or drafted by other coaches and GMs. Often, those players are allowed to depart.Sheard was drafted in the second round by the Browns when Tom Heckert was GM in 2011. He left via free agency in 2015 when Ray Farmer was GM. Sheard spent four years in Cleveland and played through an injury in 2014, but the Browns made no effort to re-sign him.New England and Bill Belichick signed Sheard the second day of free agency, and Belichick has raved about him since.A good kid, works hard, smart, very physically strong for his size, with good instincts, good awareness, Belichick said on a conference call with the Cleveland media. Hes a good football player.Thomas frustrations are understandable, especially when you look at the Browns defense, which will face the most experienced QB in the NFL Sunday in Tom Brady. The Browns have the youngest defense in the league, returneed the fewest snaps from last season, and is playing the most rookies.ddddddddddddThomas rattled off several names of players drafted by the Browns who left, either by being released or in free agency: Sheard, cornerback Buster Skrine (free agent to the Jets), linebacker DQwell Jackson (released and signed with the Colts), tight end Jordan Cameron (free agent to the Dolphins) and receiver Travis Benjamin (free agent to the Chargers).He could have added offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz (free agent to the Chiefs) and free safety Tashaun Gipson (free agent to the Jaguars). Schwartz, Gipson, Benjamin and center Alex Mack all signed elsewhere on the first day of free agency in 2016.Safety T.J. Ward is another excellent example. The Browns signed Donte Whitner instead of keeping Ward. Whitner played his last season for the Browns in 2015, the same season Ward was helping the Broncos win a Super Bowl.Thomas said the situation is exacerbated when players who are drafted by the Browns leave after their first contract.Those are the guys, they disappear, Thomas said. Even though those are the guys you spent the time, you drafted them, spent the time developing them and right when theyre hitting stride, the peaks of their career, they end up going somewhere else and having great success for somebody else.Since he was drafted in 2007, Thomas has played for six coaches. He is on his seventh general manager. He has played every down since he was drafted and been to the Pro Bowl every season hes been in the league.Its always my job to do whatever I can to try to help my team win, Thomas said, and Ive always kind of been focused on doing my job to the best of my ability. Because thats the best thing that I can do to help my team win. Thats kind of what you just have to focus on when you lose great players like that. ' ' '