Midseason trades of Jason Kidd and Shaquille O'Neal does not seemingly boost Dallas and Phoenix as both teams are knocked out of the NBA title race in the first round. Now the West is readying for the Parker-Paul duel in San Antonio-New Orleans tie

SAN ANTONIO Texas - Agence France-Presse


Defending NBA champion San Antonio ousted Phoenix and New Orleans dumped Dallas Tuesday to book a second-round playoff showdown against each other.
Frenchman Tony Parker scored 31 points and Tim Duncan added 29 points and 17 rebounds to power San Antonio past Phoenix 92-87 giving the Spurs a four to one triumph in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.
The Spurs scored seven of the last nine points to break a deadlock at 85 and book a date with the Hornets who used a supreme performance by Chris Paul to defeat Dallas 99-94 to capture that series four to one.
"The whole series I was trying to be aggressive get to the basket" Parker said. "Now it's New Orleans. They are very good. It's going to be a great challenge for me to play against Chris Paul."
The Hornets and Spurs split four regular-season meetings but each managed to dominate an opponent that made a major mid-season trade the Suns landing star center Shaquille O'Neal and the Mavericks obtaining guard Jason Kidd.
France's Boris Diaw led Phoenix with 22 points while Amare Stoudemire added 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Canadian Steve Nash hit a 3-pointer to equalize at 85 but Nash made three aaa late turnovers and Diaw gave away another. Parker took advantage for a aaa jumper for an 88-85 Spurs lead and the others set up three Ginobili free throws and two more by Duncan that sealed the triumph.
"We didn't play too well" Nash said. "We should have slowed it down. I take responsibility for that. I made a couple aaa turnovers that cost us.”
"On paper we have more talent than they do but their commitment and understanding of what they do is what made them better. They make the little plays that make them better. That's why they are the champions."
At New Orleans Paul scored 24 points passed out 15 assists and grabbed 11 rebounds for his first career playoff "Triple Double" to spark the Hornets to their first playoff series victory since moving from Charlotte.
"It feels great to know we are out of the first round" Paul said. "We showed a lot of poise at the end. We let them back in the game but we pulled it out. We're always going to fight. We stick together as a team. That's what makes this really special."
On the day coach Byron Scott was named NBA Coach of the Year for the first time he gave fans in New Orleans another first: an NBA playoff series victory.
David West scored a game-high 25 points for the Hornets who also had 10 points and 14 rebounds from Tyson Chandler and 17 points from Jannero Pargo.
New Orleans had a 54-39 lead at half-time but the Mavericks sliced the deficit to 71-63 after three quarters and 73-66 early in the fourth.
That's when the Hornets erupted for an 11-1 run for an 84-67 edge but the Mavericks rallied Brandon Bass hitting two free throws with 33 seconds remaining to pull Dallas within 97-94 before Peja Stojakovic hit two free throws with 5.2 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
The Mavericks were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the second year in a row although being ousted this year as a seventh seed was less humbling than last year when they had the NBA's top regular-season record.
German star Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 22 points and 13 rebounds and defended the decision to obtain Kidd from New Jersey.
"It would have been a struggle to get into the playoffs either way. We went for it" Nowitzki said. "Sometimes you have to take risks."
Kidd looked forward to next year and a chance to have more time to blend with his Dallas teammates. "To have a aaaa season would definitely help but we felt we were good enough to compete with the best" Kidd said. "We look at this series and we made a lot of mistakes defensively. With a little more time we could be a lot better."