2012 N.B.A. Playoffs - Determined Spurs Top Jazz Tony Parker scored 28 points and the top-seeded Spurs beat the visiting Utah Jazz, 106-91, on Sunday in Game 1 of their first-round series. It marked the 11th straight win for the Spurs, dating to the regular season, and kept them from being hounded by the doubts that emerged this time last year when they entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed only to be ousted by Memphis. "I think everybody knows what happened last year," Parker said. Everybody's motivated this year, but we don't even talk about it. The Jazz hung close for three quarters in their first playoff game without Coach Jerry Sloan since 1988. Paul Millsap led Utah with 20 points, but the Jazz could not keep up after the Spurs, the league's top 3-point shooting team, made three in a two-minute burst to finish the third period. "We can't let them get to the paint as easily, because it's kick-out 3s and dump downs and whatever," Jazz guard Gordon Hayward said. Game 2 is Wednesday in San Antonio. Hayward scored 17 points and Al Jefferson had 16 for the Jazz, who gave the Spurs problems with a big frontcourt but contributed to their own with 16 turnovers. "But we are a young team," Millsap said. Things like that happen. To compensate for his club's lack of playoff experience, Utah Coach Tyrone Corbin put Josh Howard back in the starting lineup at small forward for Game 1, even though the Jazz rolled into the postseason on a five-game winning streak with DeMare Carroll in that spot. Howard, a veteran who started during the Dallas Mavericks" run to the finals in 2006, had knee surgery in March and returned Tuesday against Phoenix. Corbin was not concerned that Howard might disrupting team chemistry. "We know who he is," Corbin said. We're going to need all the experience we can get. Points will help, though, and Howard did not provide any. He was 0 for 4 and played 16 minutes, sitting out much of the second half. Tim Duncan added 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs, who had not won a Game 1 in their last six postseason series. The last one was a double-overtime win over Phoenix in 2008, which was also the last time that the Spurs entered a postseason as healthy as they are now. But they did not leave this game so healthy. Center Tiago Splitter sprained his left wrist and did not return after scoring 4 points in eight minutes. The severity of the injury was not immediately known, but even these Spurs - arguably the deepest in the Duncan era - will sorely miss the 7-foot Splitter. Parker shook off a slow start to shoot 10 of 19 from the floor. He also had eight assists in his best playoff game since scoring 43 against Dallas in 2009. "We needed this one," said Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, who had 7 points. We played a pretty good game. It wasn't brilliant. But it was steady and we kept fighting. It took us a while, but we broke it in the fourth quarter. CELTICS" ALLEN SITS OUT Boston guard Ray Allen, who missed the last nine games of the season with an ankle injury, was not in the lineup for Game 1 of the Celtics" series against the Atlanta Hawks. Center Zaza Pachulia of the Hawks, who has a sprained foot, was not either.