PHOENIX (AP) - San Antonio had just beaten Phoenix to win the Western Conference finals when Tim Duncan sought out Amare Stoudemire. The two-time MVP had the Spurs in the NBA Finals for the third time since 1999, and he wanted to acknowledge the awesome, still-growing talent that the 22-year-old Stoudemire displayed.
"He said I played a heck of a series," Stoudemire said after the Spurs' 101-95 victory Wednesday night. "He said there will be plenty of more times when I'll be back in that position. It was good to hear that from Tim. He's one of the marquee players in this league, so best of luck to him."
So a series much more competitive than its 4-1 finish would indicate ended with mutual respect, and an understanding that there will be more to come.
Stoudemire, just 22 years old, averaged 37 points in the five-game series, capped by a career playoff-high 42, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots Wednesday night.
"He had an incredible, another incredible, game," Duncan said. "He's extended his game so much. He was hitting 15-, 18-footers tonight like it was nothing. And with his athleticism and his ability, just knowing that he's going to get even better, it's kind of scary."
There will be more Duncan-Stoudemire showdowns, but for now, Duncan and the Spurs again rule the West, and will wait to see whether they will face Detroit or Miami in the finals, a series that won't start for another week.
Stoudemire scored 17 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter, several on the powerful slam dunks that have become his trademark, helping Phoenix trim a 13-point deficit to three with 2:45 left.
He finished the series with the highest scoring average for a conference finals first-timer, breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 35-year-old record by 2.8 points per game. His five straight 30-point games broke his own club playoff record and it made him the first Suns player to do that in any five games since Charles Barkley in March 1993.
"No question about it, I've grown a lot in this postseason as a player," Stoudemire said. "My confidence level went up, and I think my IQ as a basketball player has gotten better. It was a great experience and I'm looking forward to doing better next year."
San Antonio had too much depth and too much experience for the Suns, who went from 29 victories a year ago to an NBA-best 62 this season with a fan-friendly, fast-paced style.
"We think, we hope, that it's just the first step now and we've got to keep building," Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We understand that by now San Antonio is a better team, and couple of other teams are maybe a little bit better. But there's no reason why, with us being so young and so new together, that we can't improve and next year have a better year."
Defense for Phoenix was too often an afterthought, and the Spurs took advantage. Duncan had 31 points and 15 rebounds. Manu Ginobili added 19 points and Tony Parker 18.
Duncan was coming off a rare bad playoff game - 15 points and 3-for-12 free-throw shooting - in the Spurs' loss at home in Game 4 on Monday night.
But as opponents long ago figured out, Duncan's emotionless demeanor masks an intense competitiveness. Two bad games in a row are as rare as an icicle on a Phoenix awning in July.
"Tim Duncan was a possessed individual," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "You would never know it by looking at his face or talking to him. I haven't talked to him for two days. I just leave him alone in these situations."
San Antonio took the lead with a strong defensive stand in the third quarter, when the Suns shot 6-for-20 (30 percent) and committed five turnovers. The Spurs took an eight-point lead into the fourth, and Phoenix never could quite close the gap.
"We had to go out and play a good, strong third quarter and make that push and put some doubt in their mind and put some fear into them," Parker said. "We came out, played aggressive, played good defense. We're very happy with what we did."
Suns owner Robert Sarver had called out "Remember the Red Sox!" after the Game 4 victory, recalling Boston's comeback to beat the New York Yankees in last year's ALCS. But that's baseball. No NBA team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series, or even force a Game 7 for that matter. Phoenix would have had to beat the Spurs four games in a row. Instead, they lost all three home games in the series.
Steve Nash, the conductor of the Suns' frenetic style, had 21 points and 10 assists in the final game of his MVP season.
Nash was seen carrying one of his twin six-month-old daughters down a corridor near the locker room, smiling and making faces at the little girl so oblivious to her dad's disappointment.
"We really didn't find an answer to Tim," Nash said later. "He's just such a terrific player. Tim makes all those guys better. He's a tremendous player and he's a team player and a winner."
© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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