Spurs Take Their Fourth

Jun 15, 05:00 AM

Current Headlines: By David DuPree

CLEVELAND -- The San Antonio Spurs staked their claim as the latest NBA dynasty Thursday after completing a four-game Finals sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The league championship is the Spurs' third in the last five seasons and their fourth since 1999.

And it was a little Frenchman who led the way.

Point guard Tony Parker, who demoralized the overmatched Cavaliers all series long with his darting penetrations and uncanny outside shooting, was voted the Finals MVP after scoring 24 points in the series-clinching 83-82 win. For the series, he averaged 24.5 points and 3.3 assists while shooting 56.8%, winning the award over teammate Tim Duncan, the MVP of San Antonio's first three championships.

"I put in a lot of work to get here," Parker said. "I'm speechless. When I look at the (MVP) trophy and wake up tomorrow, it's still going to be a dream. I'm on the list now."

Said Duncan, the only Spur to play on all four title teams: "I had no chance at the MVP. Tony carried us."

Parker, scoreless in the fourth quarter, kept the Spurs in the game until then, going 10-for-14 from the field before turning things over to Manu Ginobili. Ginobili scored 13 of his game-high 27 points in the fourth.

LeBron James led the Cavaliers with 24 points but was 10-for-30 from the field.

Parker, the last pick of the first round of the 2001 draft, has been a starter since his fifth NBA game when he was a 19-year-old teenager from Paris. He is the first European to win the award, following an NBA regular season in which German Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks became the first European to win the regular-season MVP award.

"He's come a long way, and it's very satisfying to have watched that progress in him," coach Gregg Popovich said of Parker.

The Spurs blew an 11-point third-quarter lead when the Cavaliers scored 14 unanswered points to end the period and start the fourth before San Antonio could regroup. The Argentine connection of Ginobili and Fabricio Oberto combined for 16 of San Antonio's final 17 points to seal the win -- 11 by Ginobili.

"They did everything they could, but we sustained," Duncan said. "They made runs, we never panicked. We just outlasted them."

Only three NBA franchises have won more titles than the Spurs. The Boston Celtics have won 16, the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers 14 and the Chicago Bulls six. (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.