Spurs Quickly Dispose of Utah

May 31, 07:39 AM

Current Headlines: By JAIME ARON

By JAIME ARON

The Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO - Tim Duncan and Tony Parker wasted no time showing how serious the San Antonio Spurs were about getting back into the NBA Finals .

Duncan and Parker powered an early 14-0 spurt that featured perhaps the most dominant stretch the Spurs have played all postseason and the Utah Jazz never recovered, letting San Antonio cruise to a 109-84 victory Wednesday night and into the championship round for the third time in five years.

"It's great, it's about the journey," Duncan said. "Last year we had a tough finish, this year to come back, put the team together and to go through three really, really good teams to get here, it's tremendous."

The Spurs took all the suspense out of it by taking a 23-point lead early in the second quarter. Although Utah got an emotional lift at halftime when Derek Fisher arrived from New York, where his infant daughter was getting medical care for a rare eye condition, the only thing in doubt by then was whether San Antonio will play Detroit or Cleveland in the Finals.

The title series begins a week from today in San Antonio, regardless of who comes out of the East. The Pistons-Cavaliers series is tied 2-2, with Game 5 tonight in Detroit.

Having a week's layoff before the next round was part of the motivation behind San Antonio's approach to Game 5. The Spurs have the oldest roster in the league, so they're wise enough to value not giving the underdogs any hope and eager to avoid another trip to Salt Lake City.

San Antonio led 16-11 when the game-breaking stretch began with Parker cutting through several big guys and making a tough layup. Over the next 2:13, Parker had seven more points, plus a lob that Duncan slammed home.

Bruce Bowen capped the blitz with a 3-pointer from the left corner that put the Spurs up 30-11. They'd made eight straight shots, were 12 of 16 for the game, and were outrebounding the Jazz 13-4.

"Tonight we played great, everybody from the starting five to bench, everybody hit shots," Parker said. "I think we won that game in the first quarter."

Duncan and Parker each finished with 21 points and Manu Ginobili scored 12.

(c) 2007 Virginian - Pilot. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.