SAN ANTONIO — The Phoenix Suns swept away seven years of bad playoff memories brought by the San Antonio Spurs.
Steve Nash scored 20 points and played with a right eye that was swollen shut as Phoenix swept San Antonio from the Western Conference semifinals with a 107-101 win Sunday night. Amare Stoudemire led the way with 29 points to help the Suns get past the Spurs in the playoffs for the first time in five tries.
"That was ugly," Suns forward Channing Frye said walking off the court.
Kind of like Nash's black-and-blue, stitched-up eye.
But it didn't bother Nash, who scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter to help smother a rally by the Spurs. Nash was accidentally struck by one of Tim Duncan's elbows in the third quarter and briefly went to the locker room. He came back with an ice pack on his eye when he finally returned to the court.
It was reminiscent of the 2007 West semifinals, when Nash had his nose sliced open when he and Tony Parker collided head-to-head in Game 1. The gash in Nash's nose bled profusely, and the Suns went on to lose the series.
Not this time.
The Suns are keeping one of the more remarkable stories of the playoffs going. Three months after Phoenix was on the brink of trading Stoudemire and calling it a season, the Suns are returning to the West finals for the first time since 2006.
General manager Steve Kerr has said it would've taken an offer "really good for us to break up the team," and good thing it never came along.
Phoenix sealed its third trip to the West finals since 2005, and gets another crack at returning to the NBA finals for the first time since 1993.
The Suns will either play the Los Angeles Lakers or the Utah Jazz in the West finals. The Lakers lead that series 3-0, and no team in NBA playoff history has ever come back from that deficit to win.
Add these Spurs to that list.
Parker scored 22 points to lead the Spurs, who were swept out of the playoffs for the first time since 2001. George Hill had 17 points, and was fouled while hitting a 3-pointer with 26.5 seconds left that gave the Spurs a flicker of hope.
The Spurs trailed 103-101 after Hill sank the free throw to complete the four-point play. But Manu Ginobili missed a 3-pointer the next time down, and San Antonio's season was over seconds later.
It was an abrupt ending for the Spurs, who will have a summer to chew on some uncomfortable questions facing the winningest franchise of the last 13 years.
CELTICS 97, CAVALIERS 87: At Boston, Rajon Rondo had 29 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists, and the Celtics evened their Eastern Conference semifinal series with Cleveland at two games apiece.
Rondo had a playoff career high in rebounds and matched his best scoring night in his fourth postseason triple-double. He played 47 minutes with some of his bigger-name teammates in foul trouble, and fans chanted "MVP! MVP!" as he knocked down a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left.
"He was absolutely sensational tonight," Boston coach Doc Rivers said.
Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett scored 18 apiece for the Celtics, who rebounded from the worst home playoff loss in franchise history and ensured they'll get at least one more game at home. Game 5 is Tuesday night in Cleveland before the series returns to Boston on Thursday night.
LeBron James scored 22 points — only one more than he had in the first quarter of Game 3 — and seemed frustrated during a seven-turnover performance. Shaquille O'Neal added 17 points, his high for this postseason, but was on the bench when the Celtics blew by the Cavaliers in the fourth quarter.
Tony Allen scored a playoff career-high 15 points in 26 spirited minutes off the bench for the Celtics, helping spell the foul-plagued Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.
Pierce continued to struggle, managing only nine points in 31 minutes, but Rondo made sure he wasn't missed.
The Celtics ran off the first 10 points of the fourth, mostly in transition, turning a two-point edge into an 84-72 lead. Rondo's basket started the spurt, he twice fed Glen Davis for easy baskets, and Tony Allen finished it off with another bucket in transition. The Cavaliers didn't score in the period until Mo Williams' jumper with 7:15 remaining.
"I just wanted to continue to attack," Rondo said. "That's how we got the lead at first."
But Cleveland used its own 10-0 run to climb to 86-84 after James converted a three-point play and set up Anderson Varejao for one. Tony Allen answered with a basket, and after a free throw by Varejao, Rondo threw a pretty bounce pass to Pierce for a dunk, then added a follow shot to make it 92-85 with 1:34 to play.
Rivers said the problem with Boston's offense in Game 3 was really its defense, because the Celtics never got enough stops to get their running game going. Rondo sped by the Cavs in this one, helping Boston — the team with older legs — to a 23-7 advantage in fast-break points.
"Multiple stops means Rondo in the open court," Rivers said.
James and the Cavs put their 124-95 victory in Game 3 away early and looked ready to deliver another quick knockout punch. Cleveland scored the first seven points, and things looked even better for the Cavaliers when Pierce and Kendrick Perkins both went to the bench early in the first quarter with two fouls. But the Celtics started getting stops, enabling Rondo to push the ball in transition, and Boston surged to a 31-22 lead.
A Cleveland flurry with James on the bench cut Boston's lead to three, but the Celtics soon pushed it back into double digits and led 54-45 at halftime.
James appeared to be checking out his sore right elbow after attempting to draw a charge on Rondo in the first half and rarely seemed in the attack mode that carried him to 38 points in Game 3.
Cleveland chipped away in the third, powered by some strong inside work by O'Neal, and eventually took a one-point lead on Delonte West's three free throws with 1:41 remaining. Rondo found Tony Allen for baskets twice in the final 1:07 of the period, giving the Celtics a 74-72 edge heading to the fourth.