INQUIRER Sports

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Defending National Basketball Association champion San Antonio ousted Phoenix for a second-round playoff showdown against earlier qualifier New Orleans.

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.

"We weren't overconfident but we have a different mentality," Paul said. "We expect to win. We expect a lot from ourselves. We're trying to set a new standard."

The Spurs closed the first half with an 18-6 run for 54-45 half-time lead, but Phoenix closed the third quarter on a 20-9 run to seize a 72-69 lead.

The Suns fell apart when it mattered most, however, hitting only 5-of-15 shots in the final period while making seven of their 14 turnovers in the last quarter. Phoenix missed 17 free throws, 13 of them in the first half.

"We were struggling. We had a bad third quarter," Parker said. "In the fourth quarter, we played like it was a game seven."

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 key late turnovers and Diaw gave away another. Parker took advantage for a key 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.

"Tony has done a great job the entire series as far as being aggressive," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "He made a monster shot when it really mattered."