It's The Playoffs!

Baketball Roundup

Spurs Beat Mavericks 105-87

The San Antonio Spurs have been called a WNBA team by Shaquille O'Neal. Of course, the way Tim Duncan's been playing, even in high heels he'd do well.

There was no stopping Spurs forward Tim Duncan (center) as he powered past Mavericks center Calvin Booth (52) and forward Juwan Howard (5) during Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals. REUTERS

Duncan had 32 points and 20 rebounds as the Spurs cruised past the Dallas Mavericks 105-87 Monday night to close their second-round series and send them to the Western Conference finals against the defending champion Lakers.

The Spurs-Lakers showdown will be the first conference finals pitting the two previous NBA champions since 1985. It's only the fifth such match-up in NBA history.

Duncan and David Robinson set the tone for the game by throwing down dunks for San Antonio's first two baskets. The Spurs led by double digits within eight minutes on a 3-pointer by Danny Ferry. A short jumper by Malik Rose in the closing seconds of the first quarter put San Antonio up by 11 and the Mavericks would never get that close again.

The Mavericks shooting was just awful. Michael Finley missed 16 of 17 shots and Juwan Howard started 2-for-12. Take away Dirk Nowitzki's career-high 42 points and the Mavs shot a dismal 19 for 66.

The 300 pound O'Neal will make things tougher on the inside than Dallas' thin tandem of Shawn Bradley and Calvin Booth. But the Spurs have home-court advantage against Los Angeles and they're 5-0 at the Alamodome this post-season. In addition, the Spurs have won six of their seven post-season games by at least 13 points.

Avalanche 4, Blues 2

The Avalanche, who cruised through the regular season as the NHL's top team, are feasting of late. Since a 183-minute scoring drought in the conference semifinals against Los Angeles, they have scored 13 goals in three games. That sum includes Ray Bourque's first goal of the playoffs, and Adam Foote's second goal Monday night as the Avs took a two-games to zilch lead in the Western Conference finals.

Avalanche winger Alex Tanguay (right) and Blues defenseman Chris Pronger (left) tangle in front of Blues goalie Roman Turek in Game 2 in the NHL Western Conference finals. REUTERS

Both came on long shots, leaving St. Louis goalie Roman Turek frustrated yet unimpressed.

"They scored three goals but they were pretty lucky goals," said Turek, who made only 16 saves. "We had two nice goals, but they scored three lucky goals and they won." Allowing four goals does tend to make a goaltender touchy.

"Being up by two games really puts the pressure on the Blues right now," Colorado captain Joe Sakic said. "We all know what happened the last two years in Dallas, so we don't really have to talk too much about it. We knew how important this game was."

The Avalanche won Game 1 of the conference finals each of the past two years only to lose Game 2, and ultimately the series, to the Dallas Stars.

Avalanche F Milan Hejduk had two assists and leads playoff scorers with six goals and 12 assists.

Playoff Results from May 14, 2001