Spurs 111, Suns 106

Monday, May 7th 2007, 7:14 am

By: News On 6

PHOENIX (AP) _ Tony Parker not only punished the Phoenix Suns as usual with his offense. He also sent Steve Nash to the bench looking like Rocky Balboa, bleeding from a nasty cut on his nose.

The result was an intense 111-106 victory Sunday for the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Parker scored 32 points, one shy of his career playoff high, and with an inadvertent head-on collision with Nash, sidelined the league's two-time defending MVP at a crucial point in the final minute.

Tim Duncan scored 33, including a 10-foot hook shot from the baseline that put the Spurs ahead for good with 1:58 to play. He also grabbed 16 rebounds, eight of them offensive, as San Antonio dominated the boards 49-35.

The game was played at the Suns' favored pace, but that was fine with the speedy Parker, who averaged 28 points against Phoenix in their three regular-season meetings.

``I think the up-and-down style fits him more than anybody else on the team,'' the Spurs' Bruce Bowen said. ``That's the kind game Tony played over in France. It's easy for him to adapt for his old ways. He's just an aggressive player. When he's an aggressive, not only does he play well, but the team usually does well.''

The Suns were left to wonder what might have been had they been able to stop Nash's bleeding.

He stayed in the game after the collision with Parker with 2:53 to play, hitting a 3-pointer and a layup to keep the Suns close.

When he had to leave with 54 seconds to play, Phoenix had the ball and trailed 106-104.

``It's impossible to say but I think we would have had a shot,'' Nash said. ``It was pretty bad timing. But you know that's life. We've just got to try to learn from this one and come back and play a great game Tuesday night.''

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said the Suns losing Nash was like San Antonio would be without Duncan.

``Last time I checked, he was the MVP of the league,'' he said. ``Of course that makes a difference.''

Parker fell one point shy of his career playoff high, hitting jumpers, runners and layups, or dishing the ball to a teammate, to keep the Spurs close in the first half and ahead in the second.

``I was just trying to be aggressive,'' he said. ``I talked with Pop and he told me to be aggressive and try to match Steve Nash. It's a great challenge to play against him.''

Popovich, whose team has won five straight playoff games, said Parker is maturing as a player.

``At his young age, he's become a wise competitor,'' Popovich said. ``He's always been a competitor, even when we took him at 19, but he's gained some wisdom these last five years. In games now it shows, during this last season and during these playoffs.''

Nash led the Suns with 31 points.

Amare Stoudemire had 20 points and 18 rebounds but was just 6-of-19 shooting. Leandro Barbosa scored 18 points for the Suns. Shawn Marion, after a slow start, scored 16, 11 in the final quarter.

Michael Finley added 19 points for San Antonio.

Nash's driving layup with 1:13 left cut it to 106-104, and Raja Bell drew an offensive foul on Parker to give Phoenix the ball. But Nash had to come out with 54 seconds to go because of blood oozing around the bandage.

After Nash's departure, Barbosa missed a 3-pointer that would have given Phoenix the lead. Manu Ginobili _ who managed only eight points _ made one of two free throws to make it 107-104 with 32 seconds to play, then Stoudemire's two free throws sliced the lead to 107-106 with 26 seconds to go.

San Antonio called a timeout, then before the Spurs threw the ball inbounds, Barbosa was called for a foul. That sent Finley to the line, where he made one of two, and gave San Antonio possession.

It was one of two calls that irritated Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni.

``There were some calls that just changed the complexion of the game,'' he said. ``Now right, wrong, I'm not here to judge that, and I'm sure they had all the best intentions in the world. It's just we didn't get that break and they changed the complexion of the game.''

But D'Antoni said the Spurs deserve credit for pulling it out.

``These guys are good,'' D'Antoni said. ``It's almost like a heavyweight champion, you've got to knock them out. We didn't do it.''

In the other series opener Sunday, it was Cleveland 81, New Jersey 77.

On Saturday, Utah eliminated Houston in Game 7 of their Western Conference first-round series 103-99. Detroit routed Chicago 95-69 in the first game of their Eastern semifinal.

Cavaliers 81, Nets 77

Cleveland's defense kept New Jersey's Big 3 from getting into an offensive flow and LeBron James scored 21 points despite a cold. The host Cavaliers held New Jersey to 37 percent shooting and outrebounded the Nets 51-37.

Larry Hughes added 17 points and Sasha Pavlovic a playoff career-high 15 for the Cavs, who will host Game 2 on Tuesday night.

Vince Carter's 23 points led New Jersey, but Jason Kidd, who averaged a triple-double in the Nets' opening-round win over Toronto, had just seven on 2-of-11 shooting. Richard Jefferson, the third wheel in New Jersey's offensive machine, added 16 points.

``We understand that if we get stops, we're a tough team to play,'' Hughes said.

Jazz 103, Rockets 99

A road team finally won a game in the only series that went down to the wire.

Carlos Boozer had 35 points, 14 rebounds and five assists in Game 7 for the Jazz, who became 19th visiting team to win in 97 Game 7s in playoff history.

``We have to finish up and see where we end up and then look back,'' Boozer said. ``If we get too excited, we won't be having too much more success. We have to stay hungry, otherwise, we'll be going home soon, too.''

They open again Golden State on Monday night.

Tracy McGrady had 29 points and 13 assists, but the seven-time All-Star fell to 0-6 in the playoffs. His Rockets blew a 2-0 lead for the second time in three seasons. They won twice in Dallas in 2005, then dropped the series in seven games.

Yao Ming had 29 points for Houston.

Pistons 95, Bulls 69

Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton each scored 20 points. Host Detroit was aggressive on defense, and balanced on offense.

The Pistons will host Game 2 on Monday night.

Chicago's Ben Gordon averaged 25.5 points and Andres Nocioni added 12 a game in the first-round sweep over the Heat, but were held to just seven and two points, respectively. Former Piston Ben Wallace had nine points, eight rebounds and a block.

Detroit took control with a 13-2 run midway through the first quarter, but didn't put Chicago away until the opening minutes of the fourth.