Spurs sweep to NBA Finals

Memphis no match for the veteran core of stars at San Antonio

The San Antonio Spurs are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since they won their last championship back in 2007, and this trip feels even more special for a team counted out as too old to contend anymore.

Tony Parker scored 37 points in his best game this postseason, and the Spurs finished off a sweep on Monday night of the Memphis Grizzlies with a 93-86 win in the Western Conference finals.

"It's a great feeling," Parker said as he sat with the Western Conference trophy perched in front of him.

"Since last year, I promised Tim (Duncan) we would go back to the Finals and get an opportunity to win the whole thing and trying to do my best to be aggressive every night. I think everybody on the team, we really want to do it for him. We win the West and now one more step. It's the hardest one."

The Spurs now have won six straight in these playoffs, handing two straight losses to a team that had been undefeated on its own court in its best postseason in franchise history. Memphis finished off its best season ever swept by the very same franchise that needed four games to knock it out of its first playoff appearance back in 2004.

Parker had his best game this postseason as he hit 15 of 21 and all six at the free-throw line earning the Spurs and Duncan plenty of rest before Game 1 of the Finals on June 6.

"He's been amazing," Duncan said of Parker. "Every year he gets better and better and better. He's been carrying us. You can see tonight he carried us the entire game."

Duncan hugged Manu Ginobili before heading off the court, celebrating the chance at a title that slipped away a year ago when the Spurs blew a 2-0 lead to Oklahoma City, losing four straight. The 37-year-old Duncan finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Kawhi Leonard added 11.

"We want to get back there," Duncan said of making the Finals. "We've had some really close years where we fell right on the verge of getting back. It feels like forever since we've been there."

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said the fact they are back in the finals after a six-year drought likely won't really sink in for a bit, though he already felt pretty good.

"You don't expect that to happen maybe this late in the game with the same group," Popovich said. "It's tough to do with the same group. It's tough to do, to maintain something that long. It just shows the character of those three guys and the ability to play with whoever else is brought in around them. They deserve a lot of credit for that."

Memphis coach Lionel Hollins had talked about how his Grizzlies needed to dig deep for something they didn't know they had to take the first step back into this series. But they couldn't outshoot the Spurs and got beaten once again at their own inside game.

The Spurs shot 51.3 percent (39 of 76) from the floor and outscored Memphis 52-32 in the paint, even though the Grizzlies had a 41-34 edge on the boards. Memphis led only briefly and the last at 6-4 as the Spurs took control early.

Memphis stayed close only by getting to the free-throw line, making more shots there (17 of 24) than San Antonio took (12 of 13). The Grizzlies also got a career-high 22 points from reserve Quincy Pondexter, 18 of those in the second half. Pondexter was the only player from Memphis to shoot more than .500. Zach Randolph finished with 13, continuing his struggles at the line where he was 5 of 8, and Marc Gasol had 14.

"We learned that winning isn't easy and winning championships is one of the hardest things you can possibly do," Pondexter said. "I think our guys really dug deep to get as far as we did, and San Antonio's a tremendous team. We're going to take a couple pages out of their book."

Duncan had taken care of the Grizzlies, scoring the big points in overtime in each of the last two games. Parker took over this time as he hit 14 of his first 18 shots, and he hit the biggest shot with 9:15 left when he knocked down his lone 3-pointer over the outstretched arms of Tony Allen and Randolph after Memphis had gotten within 76-73 with fans sensing the most life out of the Grizzlies all night long.

The Grizzlies made one last run and got within three one last time when Gasol scored on a runner in the lane with 48.7 seconds left at 89-86. But Parker hit four free throws in the final 29.7 seconds to seal the victory for San Antonio and its first Western Conference title since the Spurs' last NBA title in 2007.

(China Daily 05/29/2013 page22)