The San Antonio Spurs outlasted the shorthanded Phoenix Suns Wednesday to gain the upper hand in their NBA playoff series.

Bruce Bowen hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 36 seconds left in the fourth quarter and Manu Ginobili supplied a spark off the bench as the Spurs rallied late for an 88-85 victory and a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.

Ginobili had 26 points and 10 rebounds and Tim Duncan added 21, 12 and five blocks for the Spurs, who can reach the conference finals with a win at home in game six on Friday.

"That's what this series is about, playing hard, executing your offense and defense," Ginobili said. "That's what happened in game four, we played great for 42 (minutes) and after that they came back and we stopped.

"Today was the opposite. They played great for 42 and we came back in the last quarter.

"You can't relax for a second in this series because you are done. We have to learn from that and go to game six and do our best game for 48 (minutes)."

The Suns entered missing All-Star Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw, who drew automatic one-game suspensions for stepping away from their bench in the waning seconds of Monday's game four, when Spurs forward Robert Horry blasted Steve Nash into the scorer's table.

Even so, the Suns led by 11 points in the fourth quarter befor the Spurs got within striking distance behind an impressive 13-4 surge, capped by Ginobili's 3-pointer from the right wing to close to 71-69 at the 8:04 mark.

Nash stepped up to answer the call as he drained a shot from the arc, then fed Kurt Thomas, who converted a three-point play as the Suns pushed their lead to 77-69 with 5:41 remaining.

However, San Antonio refused to surrender as Ginobili scored five points during a 10-2 surge to tie the game at 79-79 with 2:29 left.

The Spurs had two chances to take their first lead of the second half, but Ginobili was called for an offensive foul against Raja Bell and threw the ball away following a steal at the 1:31 mark.

But after Shawn Marion's missed jumper on Phoenix's next possession, Tony Parker drove the lane and kicked it to a wide-open Bowen for a 3-pointer from the left corner for an 84-81 lead.

Phoenix still had a chance to make things interesting when Duncan missed a pair of free throws, leading to two made foul shots by Nash to make it 84-83 with 11 seconds to go.

Ginobili sank a pair from the line and Nash misfired from 3-point range to seal the triumph for the Spurs, who made 7-of-11 3-pointers after halftime.

Nets still alive

In Cleveland, Jason Kidd scored 20 points as the New Jersey Nets defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 83-72 on Wednesday to stay alive in the NBA playoffs.

The Nets narrowed the gap in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series to 3-2 and host game six on Friday.

The Nets have the daunting task of attempting to become the ninth team in NBA playoff history to erase a 3-1 deficit and win.

"We were pumped. Wed did not panic before the game," said Nachbar, who connected on three consecutive 3-point shots early to help the Nets go ahead. "We honestly believe we can win this series.

"I'm not trying to take anything away from Cleveland," he added. "We really believe we could win this series, and there was no doubt in my mind we could win this game."

Richard Jefferson scored 15 points, Mikki Moore 14 and Carter added 12 for New Jersey.

(China Daily via AFP May 18, 2007)