Spurs shade Suns, grab 2-0 advantage; Hornets, Magic win

Frenchman Tony Parker scored 32 points, Argentine Manu Ginobili had 29 and the Spurs set the visiting Suns 102-96 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 edge in the opening round of their Western Conference best-of seven play-off series.

 "It was a little bit like game one, Parker said. "We were down by 14, we kept fighting and cut it to seven by half-time. Then we had a great third quarter, they scored 11 points."

   Tim Duncan collected 18 points and 17 rebounds for the Spurs, who rallied to win the dramatic opener, 117-115 on Saturday.

 Though statistics say the team that goes up 2-0 wins 94 per cent of the series, Duncan knows it won't be easy as the battle shifts to Phoenix for games Friday and Sunday.

 "Game Three is going to be big for them," he said. "They're going to walk in their house feeling very confident after really pushing us here. We respect them and we'll have to go out and give one heck of an effort to try to win there."

   Amare Stoudemire led the Suns with 33 points. Steve Nash had 23 and 10 assists while Shaquille O'Neal collected 19 points and 14 rebounds.

 "They held serve on their floor and we'll have to do the same thing," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We're not discouraged. We've shown we can be there, but for whatever reason we just came out flat, or they came out great in the third quarter and it got away from us."

   The energetic Suns raced to a 14-point advantage and led 61-54 at halftime, by shooting a sizzling 61 per cent from the field, led by Stoudemire's 25 points.

 However, the Spurs clamped down on their signature defence to take control. They shut out Stoudemire and outscored the Suns, 27-11 to go on top 81-72 after three quarters.

 "They really knocked them down in the first half, but the worm turned in the second half," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We played pretty good defence and they missed shots."

   The Spurs' lead swelled to 15 on another nifty layup by Parker with 4:46 remaining. However, Nash scored six points in a 10-0 burst, pulling the Suns within 96-91 at the 2:44 mark.

 After Duncan made one free throw and Boris Diaw turned the ball over at the other end, Ginobili sliced down the left side, drawing O'Neal over before whipping a slick pass to Duncan for a one-handed dunk, opening up a nine-point with 1:47 left.

 Stoudemire buried a rare thee-pointer with 13 ticks left, making it 101-96, but it was too little, too late.

 Elsewhere:

   New Orleans Hornets 127, Dallas Mavericks 103

   MVP front-runner Chris Paul had 32 points with a franchise play- off-record 17 assists as the Hornets routed the visiting Mavericks to grab a 2-0 lead in the opening round of their Western Conference first-round series.

 David West scored 27 points and Peja Stojakovic 22, with five of the team's 10 three-pointers for the second-seeded Hornets, who shot a sizzling 61 per cent from the field (48-of-79).

 After building a 67-51 halftime advantage, the Hornets blew the game open in the third quarter, opening up a 25-point cushion en route to the runaway win.

 Reigning-league MVP Dirk Nowitzki topped the seventh Mavericks with 27 points while Brandon Bass had 19 and fellow-reserve Jason Terry finished with 16.

 The series shifts to Dallas, where the Mavericks have beaten the Hornets 13 consecutive times since January 1998.

 Orlando Magic 104, Toronto Raptors 103

   Dwight Howard had 29 points with 20 rebounds, and the Magic escaped the visiting Raptors, when Chris Bosh missed a potential game-winning jumper just before the buzzer for a 2-0 advantage in their first-round Eastern Conference series.

 Jameer Nelson and Rashard Lewis scored 18 points apiece for third- seeded Orlando, which took the opener 114-100 on Sunday.

 Ahead by nine in the final quarter, the Magic trailed 101-100 with 64 seconds remaining, on Carlos Delfino's free throw.

 However, Hedo Turkoglu hit an off-balance layup and added two free throws, putting Orlando back on top, 104-101 with 9.6 seconds left.

 After Delfino's layup made it one-point game, the Raptors got the ball back, when Jose Calderon drew an offensive foul from Keyon Dooling on an inbound pass.

 With a shot at the win, Bosh launched his 18-foot jumper that bounced off the front of the rim, just before the final buzzer.

 Bosh led Raptors with 29 points and 10 rebounds. Jason Kapono scored 20 points, Calderon added 18 and fellow-Argentine Delfino finished with 16.

 Toronto hosts the next two games on Thursday and Sunday.

By Paul Levine, dpa