Quentin Richardson said the Phoenix Suns were expecting to see the Tim Duncan who was a two-time NBA most valuable player in this season's Western Conference finals, not the Tim Duncan who had been hampered this season by sprains to his ankles.
In Game 1 on Sunday afternoon, the Suns were confronted with both Duncans.
"In the first quarter, it was a little stiff," said Duncan, who sprained his left ankle in Seattle on Thursday night in Game 6 of the conference semifinals. "It didn't have much pop. I was not really confident on it. After that, it really warmed up, felt pretty good."
PHOTO: AFP
As a result, so did the San Antonio Spurs, who rode 28 points and 15 rebounds from Duncan to a 121-114 victory over the Suns.
The Spurs seized the home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series. Game 2 is scheduled for here Tuesday night before the series shifts to San Antonio for Game 3 on Saturday.
"Duncan took over at the end," Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said after the Spurs outscored the Suns, 43-32, in the fourth quarter to erase an 8-point Phoenix lead with 1 minute 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Duncan scored 11 points in 11 minutes in the fourth quarter, forcing the Suns to double-team him. That left the perimeter open, and Brent Barry and Tony Parker made Phoenix pay. Coming off the bench, Barry scored 21 points, a career playoff high, and Parker led the Spurs with 29.
In the fourth quarter alone, Barry, who had been averaging only six points in the playoffs, tormented the Suns with 13 points and 5-for-5 shooting from the floor, including three 3-pointers.
"He came up huge," Parker said of Barry, who struggled in the conference semifinals. "Two days ago, after we won against Seattle, he was a little bit down and I talked to him. I thought Brent tried too hard. He was not himself. And I told him: `Stay with us. Keep shooting. You are going to have a huge series against Phoenix."'
Perhaps the two most important shots of Game 1 belonged to Barry, who buried consecutive 3-pointers to extend a two-point lead to 106-98 with 4 minutes 10 seconds to play.
"The Seattle series was difficult mentally for me, trying to find a rhythm," Barry said. "Tonight, I had open opportunities and I knocked them down. That's what I'm here to do, that's what our bench is here to do. You can't win a championship without a good bench."
The Spurs made 16 of their 22 field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter, shooting 72.7 percent.
The Suns almost certainly cannot defeat the Spurs if Shawn Marion scores only 3 points, as he did in Game 1. Marion was coming off a 38-point performance, which matched his career playoff high, at Dallas on Friday, when Phoenix clinched its conference semifinal series.
Against San Antonio, Marion did not score his first points until 2:30 remained in the third quarter. With Richardson mustering only 7 points, the Spurs held Phoenix's starting forwards to a total of 10 points.
"That's not good," Marion said. "We can't win like that. I've got to be involved in the game."
The Spurs bottled up Marion one day after Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire proclaimed, "I still think we have the advantage, though, with the bigs; the guys in the paint, with me and Shawn."
Stoudemire said the Suns' frontcourt was quicker than Duncan and Nazr Mohammed, the Spurs' starting center.
Stoudemire did his part in Game 1. After averaging 38.7 points against the Spurs during the regular season, Stoudemire scored a game-high 41, a career playoff high. Steve Nash, who was so brilliant against Dallas in the conference semifinals, added 29 points and 13 assists. And Jim Jackson scored 20 points.
But the Spurs' bench outscored the Suns' bench, 33-14. And without an offensive presence from Marion, the Suns could not keep up with the Spurs at the end.
With the score tied, 94-94, with 6:47 remaining in regulation, Duncan scored 4 consecutive points to give San Antonio the lead for good. The Spurs eventually opened up a 10-point lead, with Duncan, Barry and Parker leading the way.
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