背靠背

The Suns have lost too many games here to count, so by now it would stand to reason that the Spurs might have run out of new wrinkles to trip Phoenix up.

Then San Antonio rolls out a Tim Duncan game-tying 3-pointer with three seconds left in overtime — and the hunt for the drawing board begins anew.

“I asked him if he was kidding,” Suns guard Raja Bell.

“It’s something we really didn’t have a game plan for,” Amaré Stoudemire said. “If he hits that … God bless him.”

Divine intervention or not, the Spurs still found enough at the bottom of their silver-and-black bag of tricks to outlast the Suns 117-115 in a double-overtime classic at a deafening AT&T Center.

Instead of stealing Game 1, Phoenix had its own pocket picked.

“I guess they’re not going to go easy,” coach Mike D’Antoni said.

Duncan hadn’t hit a 3-pointer all year (0-for-4) and was 1-for-13 (8.5 percent) over the last five postseasons. But there he was, alone at 25 feet when Manu Ginobili drove and kicked out. Bell sprinted toward the big man, but it was too late.

“He was the third option,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. “You can imagine my horror when it went his direction.”

But Duncan’s jaw never dropped. “I’m very confident (in that shot),” he joked. “I just don’t think anybody else is.”

The defending champs hit all the big shots when it mattered. Michael Finley sent the game to overtime with a clutch 3-pointer, while Ginobili hit the game-winner over Bell with 1.8 seconds left in the second overtime.

But the Suns will rue all the chances they had to claim the game for themselves.

They were in command, even after Shaquille O’Neal was limited to 13 minutes in the first two quarters by foul trouble. Even after a 16-point lead was sliced in half due to a sloppy last four minutes to end the first half. Even when Phoenix’s nine-point lead with nine minutes left evaporated.

“It’s really disappointing because we had the game won a few times,” said Steve Nash, who gave the Suns a last chance to extend things further when his 3-pointer tied the game with 15.7 second left in the second overtime. “You can look at a litany of mistakes that we made. Take your pick.”

• The Suns led 93-90 and had the ball with 44 seconds left. But the Suns were called for their only 24-second violation of the game, giving the Spurs a chance to tie.

• Phoenix chose not to foul away from the ball with a three-point lead, and didn’t switch on defense when Finley lost Leandro Barbosa with a Kurt Thomas screen. Finley was unmolested on his 3-pointer.

• Barbosa passed up an open shot early in the final possession of regulation, instead settling for an off-balance 15-footer that missed.

• In the first overtime, the Suns led by five with 2:22 left but got only one shot on their next four possessions, thanks to a turnover and two fouls by Stoudemire, who fouled out with 12.6 seconds left after scoring 33 points in 46 minutes.

“When you play the Spurs, you have little room for error,” Stoudemire said.

• Up by three again, the Suns again passed on a chance to foul away from the ball — setting the stage for Duncan’s unlikely shot.

“I had all the time in the world to line it up,” he said. “I just threw it up there and hoped for the best.”

The Suns were clearly on their heels from there. They never led in the second overtime, but tied the game five times — the last when Brent Barry missed only his second free throw of the year four seconds before Nash buried a 3-pointer to pull even.

But the Spurs had one more big shot in them — although Ginobili’s game winner was from much closer, and Boris Diaw was the biggest Sun on the floor.

“What I knew was that Shaq and Amaré were not there,” Ginobili said. “So if I had a chance to get some legs into the shot, I knew I had a good opportunity. But it’s easier to finish when you are tied, so Tim’s shot and Fin’s shot were greater than mine.”

And when combined, they were just enough to send the Suns away empty-handed again.

COPYRIGHT 2008, EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE. Used with permission.

The Suns thought their small lineup, featuring Boris Diaw at center, would have good success against the Spurs, and they were right. They just didn't plan on having to use Diaw against the Spurs' big lineup quite as much.

But when Shaquille O'Neal went to the bench with two fouls just 3:47 into the game, Diaw checked in and was charged with chasing Tim Duncan around for the rest of the first half.

He and Leandro Barbosa combined to contribute 18 first-half points and seven rebounds as the Suns built a 16-point lead midway through the second quarter. But Duncan had his way inside on the smaller Diaw, pounding his way to 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting.

"We got some points and made them double-team; it worked pretty well," Diaw said. "We didn't want Shaq to get in foul trouble, but we went to different things and a different style and we adapted well. The problem was Tim scored a lot when I was guarding him, but we were still leading and doing well."

The Suns tried Brian Skinner for two minutes late in the first half. But he not only had little success defensively, the Spurs sent him to the line twice in a six-second span to take advantage of his poor foul shooting (52 percent this year).

"(The Spurs) did 'Hack-a-Shaq' late in the game, but before that they did 'Hack-a-Skinny,'" Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said.

After Duncan had tied the score with a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the first overtime, Diaw still had a chance to win it for Phoenix. But his 11-foot turnaround jumper missed.

"I got tripped (while pivoting) or I tripped myself a little bit. I was off-balance and pretty much shot it on one foot," Diaw said.

STRANGE DECISION

Count Manu Ginobili among those scratching their heads at the Suns' decision not to foul him before he found Tim Duncan for the game-tying 3-pointer in the first overtime. The Suns also didn't foul Michael Finley before he tied the score with 15 seconds left in regulation with a 3-pointer.

"I come from an environment where we all foul," Ginobili said. "But I guess sometimes you have to go with the percentages. A contested (3-pointer), it's about 25 percent. So sometimes you try that, I guess."

D'Antoni said Finley's 3-pointer hurt more because the Suns were supposed to switch after the Spurs set a pick on Leandro Barbosa - freeing Finley for the shots.

"With Tim, you have to say 'Hey that happens' and he hit an unbelievable shot," he said. "With Finley, you kind of know he can do that, so we should have swallowed him up and not let him look at it."

HILL STRUGGLES

Grant Hill, who came into the playoffs bothered by a groin injury, played only 28 minutes in the double-overtime game (five points, seven rebounds). He came in with six minutes left to give Tony Parker another look defensively, but lasted less than four minutes before D'Antoni went back to Barbosa.

Hill played less than a minute in the two overtime periods.

BONUS SHOTS

The Suns are now 0-3 under D'Antoni in Game 1 of a playoff series against the Spurs (2005, 2007 and 2008). They are a combined 6-0 against all other teams.

Phoenix had won the first game of the postseason seven straight times. Their last loss in the opening game of the playoffs was May 8, 1999, to Portland (95-85).

Winning Game 1 might not be what the Spurs wanted. In both 2005 and 2007, they lost their first playoff game, at home (both times to Denver) and went on to win their third and fourth NBA titles.

Skinner had his ejection and accompanying $3,000 fine from the league rescinded on Friday. He and Portland's Jarrett Jack were kicked out in the second quarter Wednesday's season finale. Jack's ejection and fine was also rescinded.

Robert Horry took part in his first practice in almost a month Friday and was dressed for the game. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said Horry and another hobbled veteran, Brent Barry, would likely play only in an emergency in Game 1.

But with everyone but Duncan shooting horribly for the Spurs in the first half, Popovich went to Barry - who played 10 minutes and scored four points.

COPYRIGHT 2008, EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE. Used with permission.