Spurs Dig In at End

Meanwhile, lurking beyond the glare of the Phoenix Suns’ 110-point-a-night offense and the daily displays of affection between Shaquille O’Neal and the city of Miami ...

The San Antonio Spurs -- remember them? -- wagged a cautionary index finger at the rest of the league Sunday, showing the Suns they’re not alone in the ability to score at will and offering up reminders to those who had dismissed them from championship possibilities.

It’s a forgivable mistake, seeing as how the Spurs haven’t held the same mystique since Derek Fisher staggered them last May with his 0.4-of-a-second shot. More recently, they had been playing footsie with the injury-savaged Seattle SuperSonics before finally putting them down.

But they are back in a big way, taking Game 1 of the Western Conference finals from the Suns, 121-114, in front of an announced 18,422 in America West Arena.

Shoving aside their tiresome-but-effective half-court sets to play a more frenetic style, the Spurs surpassed the Suns with a 43-point fourth quarter, a number they sometimes don’t hit in an entire half.

The Spurs, NBA champions in 1999 and 2003, limited the Suns to six fastbreak points and backed up their coach’s assertion that they were “willing to be the chameleon.”

“We usually change according to what other people do,” Coach Gregg Popovich said. “You’ve got to score points to beat these guys because you’re not going to hold them to 82.”

The atmosphere was chipper enough that normally stoic forward Tim Duncan delivered a punch line, introducing himself and his team after a postgame moderator asked media members to identify themselves and their affiliation before asking questions.

Duncan, who can’t seem to stop spraining his right ankle, rolled his left ankle Thursday against Seattle and did not practice Saturday. He played Sunday without a noticeable drop-off, scoring 28 points and taking 15 rebounds.

Duncan had 11 points and swingman Brent Barry had 13 points in the fourth quarter as the Spurs overcame an 82-78 deficit.

“That’s why they win championships,” Sun Coach Mike D’Antoni said. “[Duncan] could be the best player in the game. It’s going to be hopefully a long series and we have some growing up to do.”

Duncan sat out the last 12 games of the regular season after spraining his right ankle for a third time this season, and the Spurs finished three games behind the stylistically pleasing but untested Suns.

Sun forward Amare Stoudemire, who averaged 38.7 points against the Spurs during the regular season, had 41 points Sunday, but there were few other Sun notables.

Shawn Marion had three points in 38 minutes. Quentin Richardson had seven points in 42 minutes. Even Steve Nash wasn’t quite Steve Nash.

Coming off a three-game run in which he tweaked his former team by averaging 40.3 points, 9.7 assists and 9.0 rebounds against the Dallas Mavericks, the league most valuable player had 29 points, 13 assists, four rebounds and an unusual six turnovers.

“He’s going to play a lot of minutes. Get him tired,” said Spur guard Tony Parker, who had 29 points. “All the offense goes through him, so over the course of the series we need to get him tired.”

The Suns looked a little feeble after the first quarter, with Manu Ginobili banking in a shot from a few steps behind half-court as time expired for a 30-20 Spur lead.

It didn’t get much better by halftime, with Richardson and Marion combining for two points, never an appealing sign when the Suns’ main bench players are Leandro Barbosa and Steven Hunter.

The Suns rallied with a 33-point third quarter, but Barry had three-point baskets on consecutive possessions midway through the fourth quarter to provide a 106-98 Spur lead. Barry finished with 21 points.