Spurs strike first
With blood spewing from a cut on his nose, Steve Nash could only watch from the bench while the San Antonio Spurs put away Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals in Phoenix.
Tim Duncan had 33 points and 16 rebounds – eight offensive – and Tony Parker added 32 points to lead the Spurs to a rugged 111-106 victory Sunday over Nash’s Phoenix Suns.
Nash scored 31 but missed a crucial 45 seconds in the final minute because of the bloody cut on his nose, the result of a head-on collision with Parker with 2:53 to play. The cut required six stitches after the game.
“You only see things like that in a boxing match,” the Spurs’ Robert Horry said, “where a guy cuts his nose and it won’t stop bleeding. You feel bad for the guy because you want to have the best team out there at the end of the game, and he wasn’t out there.”
Michael Finley added 19 points for San Antonio.
Amare Stoudemire had 20 points and 18 rebounds but was just 6 of 19 shooting. Leandro Barbosa scored 18 points for the Suns. Shawn Marion, after a slow start, scored 16, 11 in the final quarter.
Game 2 is Tuesday night in Phoenix.
Cavaliers 81, Nets 77: At Cleveland, the Cavaliers’ defense kept New Jersey’s Big 3 from getting into an offensive flow and LeBron James contributed 21 points as Cleveland opened the Eastern Conference semifinals with a victory over the Nets.
The Cavaliers came in well rested after their four-game sweep of Washington in the first round, and they needed every ounce of energy to hold off the Nets, who pulled within 79-77 on Vince Carter’s two free throws with 19.5 seconds left.
But James, who came down with a cold during Cleveland’s time off, scored on a tough drive to put Cleveland up by four, and on New Jersey’s final possession, the Cavaliers clamped down on defense.
Cleveland held New Jersey to 37 percent shooting and outrebounded the Nets 51-37.
Larry Hughes added 17 points and Sasha Pavlovic a playoff career-high 15 for the Cavs, who will host Game 2 on Tuesday night.
Vince Carter’s 23 points led New Jersey, but Jason Kidd, who averaged a triple-double in the Nets’ opening-round win over Toronto, had just seven on 2 of 11 shooting.