Spurs, Nets come close to first-round playoff sweeps

The San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets, who faced off in the National Basketball Association finals last season, both moved within one win of first-round sweeps with playoff victories on Thursday.

The reigning NBA champion Spurs took a three-games-to-none lead over the Grizzlies with a 95-93 victory in Memphis.

But not before Mike Miller nearly gave the Grizzlies a spectacular win in their first home playoff game.

Miller just long on a game-winning 3-point attempt at the buzzer, allowing the Spurs to escape with the win and a commanding lead in their Western Conference first-round series.

The Spurs trailed by as many as 10 points but took the lead for good, 92-91, on a lefthanded jump hook by Tim Duncan with 1:37 remaining. But San Antonio gave Memphis numerous chances down the stretch.

Bruce Bowen airballed a free throw before sinking his second attempt to open a 93-91 edge with 28 seconds left. Bowen forced Bonzi Wells into a difficult jumper, Manu Ginobili grabbed the rebound for San Antonio and was fouled with nine seconds to play. Ginobili split a pair of free throws to make it 94-91 and, after a timeout, Memphis' Pau Gasol dunked to reduce the deficit to one point with 4.6 seconds left.

Ginobili fouled a second later and again split two attempts, giving the Grizzlies a chance to tie or win. Miller pulled up about five feet shy of the top of the arc, but his shot bounced off the back of the rim at the buzzer.

Duncan 22 points and 13 rebounds and Tony Parker and Hedo Turkoglu scored 18 apiece for the Spurs, who surrendered just 36 points in the second half.