Tony Parker’s playoff career high 14 assists along with 17 points helped the Spurs slice and dice the Jazz to the tune of a 105-96 Game 2 home victory to take a 2-0 series lead in the Western Conference Final.

For the Jazz, it’s the second time this postseason they’re in an 0-2 hole. During the first round, they trailed the Rockets by the same deficit before rallying to take the series in seven games. However, as point guard Deron Williams pointed out afterwards, being down two to the championship calibre Spurs is a lot different:

“We still have a chance. But I think it’s a lot worse to be down 2-0 to the Spurs than the Rockets. They have championships and guys who know how to win. They’re also a much better road team.”

The splendid soph understands how difficult a task it now becomes for his team to comeback. They’ll need to be more consistent when they return home to Salt Lake for a must win Game 3 Saturday night.

One thing they need to do is get off to a better start. The Jazz never led during last night’s game and trailed by as much as 22 in the second half as Parker and the Spurs’ outside shooters along with Tim Duncan (team high 26 along with 14 boards, 5 blocks and 4 assists) toyed with them to set a franchise mark by making 13 three’s.

After a close opening quarter in which Utah trailed by just two, they had another brutal second getting outscored 32-17 to be put in a huge hole down 17 at the half. A little friendly advice for Jerry Sloan’s young club: Falling behind by that much against a battle tested team such as San Antonio is a recipe for disaster.

It’s just too much to climb out of. The same thing happened in Game 1 which was almost an identical margin of defeat (8 pts instead of 9). By the time they started playing better at both ends to cut the deficit to only seven in the final quarter, it was just a little too much to overcome. Twice, Parker got into the lane and setup Bruce Bowen for uncontested treys from each corner. The defensive stopper connected on three-of-four from that distance for all nine of his points.

If you are letting Bowen beat you, you got problems. Nothing against the gritty defender who works as hard as anyone. But when you’re facing the Big Three of Parker, Duncan and Manu Ginobili who also added 17 points (three from downtown) along with four rebounds, three assists and two steals, you better not allow a secondary part to hurt you.

Aside from that, savvy perimeter veteran Michael Finley also knocked down three trifectas adding 11 points in 23 minutes along with six rebounds. Even unheralded center Fabricio Oberto followed a surprising 14 in Game 1 with another 14 on an efficient six-of-seven from the field- also grabbing seven boards. If he’s scoring in double digits, Utah has no chance to win this series.

So much must change for the Jazz to get back in it. Aside from dynamic duo Williams and Carlos Boozer, who combined for 59 points, 19 rebounds and 13 assists, they just aren’t getting enough support thus far. As promised Andrei Kirilenko was better Tuesday night finishing 5-of-11 from the field plus five-of-seven from the line to contribute 15 points and three assists. But with only three rebounds and a block in 37 minutes, it was un-Drago like. The versatile small forward needs to do better in that area on the interior to help turn the series around.

If Kirilenko improved, then center Mehmet Okur was once again a non-factor finishing just 4-of-13 for 11 points. He did step out and make two three’s but unless he’s a consistent scoring threat inside and outside, the Jazz don’t have a reliable third option.

Derek Fisher, who was so good against the Warriors had a dreadful night making just one-of-nine field goals and misfiring on all four three’s for only three points in 30 minutes.

Another problem for the Jazz is their lack of bench scoring. Against Golden State, it was a polar opposite. Last night, they got outscored 28-8 with both Ginobili (17) and three-point specialist Brent Barry (9 on all treys) getting more than the trio of Paul Millsap (4), Gordan Giricek (2) and Matt Harpring (2). Only Harpring got major minutes (27) as compared to 18 total for the other two. Problem was the former Georgia Tech two sport star was ineffective.

If Sloan is only going to use eight in his rotation, then they better perform at a high level because Gregg Popovich has the luxury of bringing Ginobili, Barry and Robert “Big Shot Bob” Horry off his bench which makes it a potent weapon because all those guys have experience and are used to playing big minutes. The San Antonio coach also hasn’t been afraid to use backup point guard Jacques Vaughn to spell Parker and even has given time to center Francisco Elson throughout the Spring which means he can rest Duncan when needed.

It also means Popovich isn’t afraid to go 10 deep which means his key players should be fresher in crunch time. That spells trouble for the Jazz.

They’ll now have three days off to regroup before Saturday. We’ll see what Sloan comes up with to make this interesting. The good news is they usually play great on their own home court. They have some of the best fans in the NBA who make a lot of noise and support their Jazz very well. You know they’ll be behind their team trying to rally them.

We’ll see what happens!