San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs have signed former La Salle guard Gary Neal to a contract. A team statement says terms aren't being disclosed. The 6-4, 210-pound Neal led the Spurs' summer league team in scoring with 16 points in 25.8 minutes per game in five games. He went undrafted in the 2007 NBA draft after playing at La Salle and then at Towson. Since then, he has played one season of pro basketball in Spain and two in Italy.

Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and the San Antonio Spurs are back in the Western Conference finals for the second straight season with the same style that has carried them to four NBA titles. Don't call these guys old just yet. After wearing down the younger Golden State Warriors in a grueling six-game series, the Spurs look as spry as ever. And they already know what to expect when they open the conference finals at home against Memphis on Sunday. "It's going to be a rough one," Duncan said.

Getting the bulk of their offense from an unlikely source - defensive specialist Bruce Bowen - the San Antonio Spurs trounced the visiting Los Angeles Lakers, 114-95, last night to take a 2-0 lead in their second-round series. The Spurs led by 33 in the third quarter. Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal (27 points each) watched the entire fourth quarter from the bench. Bowen finished with a career playoff-high 27 points, including 7-for-8 on three-pointers. Game 3 is tomorrow in Los Angeles.

Even after squandering much of their 19-point lead, the San Antonio Spurs weren't worried. "We don't panic because we've got a veteran team," Mario Elie said last night after the visiting Spurs held off the Houston Rockets, 92-83, for their sixth straight victory. "We know how to close a game out. " Sean Elliott scored 19 points as the Spurs ended Houston's nine-game home winning streak. "This was a very strong game for us," Elliott said. "It was as good as we've ever looked in stretches.

The San Antonio Spurs nearly headed to Denver down, 0-2. After squandering a 15-point fourth-quarter lead, the Spurs held on for a 97-88 victory over the visiting Denver Nuggets last night to even the Western Conference quarterfinal series. Manu Ginobili had eight points in the fourth quarter and Tim Duncan added seven points in the final 12 minutes to save the Spurs from losing two home games against sixth-seeded Denver. Duncan led San Antonio with 22 points and five blocked shots.

Tony Parker's season-high 30 points included a go-ahead layup with 35 seconds left, Michael Finley made three key free throws, and the visiting San Antonio Spurs held on to beat the Dallas Mavericks, 92-90, last night and remain alone atop the Western Conference. Parker added two free throws with 12 seconds left to make it 92-88, but that almost wasn't enough for the Spurs (12-3), who gave Dallas two more chances after that. Finley, a former Maverick making his first start because Manu Ginobili is out with a jammed right foot, scored 15 points.

Danny Ferry has agreed to become general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons coach Larry Brown is no longer a candidate to become the team's president of basketball operations, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. Ferry reportedly came to terms after receiving assurances that he would make the last call on all personnel decisions. He was in the front office of the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs. The hiring of Ferry, who played 10 seasons with the Cavaliers, is expected to be announced today - the day before the draft.

Free-agent forward Tim Duncan will remain with the San Antonio Spurs, according to published reports. The Orlando Sentinel and the San Antonio Express-News reported yesterday that Duncan's representatives told Orlando Magic general manager John Gabriel that Duncan will turn down Orlando's six-year deal worth $67.5 million, the most allowed under the collective-bargaining agreement. "I don't think it looks that great now for us to get Tim," Magic coach Doc Rivers told the Sentinel.

San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan, among the NBA leaders in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots, has won the league's Most Valuable Player award, a league source told the Associated Press yesterday. The five-year veteran outpolled New Jersey Nets guard Jason Kidd by a narrow margin, the source said on condition of anonymity. Voting by a panel of 126 media members took place before the playoffs began. Duncan's selection will be made public at a Thursday news conference in San Antonio, the San Antonio Express-News reported on its Web site late yesterday afternoon.

Larry Brown says the San Antonio Spurs "are probably the best team" in the NBA. Gregg Popovich, one of Brown's closest friends, coaches the Spurs. See a trend there? "Larry sees the potential in our team, and potentially he could be right," Popovich said before the Spurs squeezed out a 98-94 victory last night. "But it's not a fact, not a reality as we speak. " Not even with David Robinson and Tim Duncan, the best one-two big man punch in the league? Not even with Sean Elliott healthy and hungry?

LE BRON JAMES made a layup as time expired in overtime, and the Miami Heat found a way to beat the visiting Indiana Pacers, 103-102, in a wild Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals last night. James finished with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Heat - his ninth postseason triple-double, and barely anyone noticed. All that mattered was the last shot, which simply saved the Heat. Paul George made three free throws with 2.2 seconds left in the overtime, which he forced with a miracle three-pointer, to give the Pacers the lead.

THE SAN ANTONIO Spurs opened the Western Conference finals resembling the past champions who've been there so many times before. The Memphis Grizzlies looked like the first-timers still trying to adapt to their first conference finals appearance. Tony Parker had 20 points and nine assists, Kawhi Leonard scored 18 points and the Spurs struck first by beating visiting Memphis, 105-83, yesterday. San Antonio raced out to a 17-point lead in the first quarter, then came up with a response when Memphis rallied to get within six in the second half.

Tony Parker had 20 points and nine assists, Kawhi Leonard scored 18 points, and the host San Antonio Spurs struck first in the Western Conference finals by beating the Memphis Grizzlies, 105-83, on Sunday. The Spurs raced out to a 17-point lead in the first quarter, then came up with a response when Memphis rallied to get within six in the second half. Both teams pulled their starters with more than five minutes left and the Spurs leading by 21. The Spurs avoided a repeat of their Game 1 loss when the teams met two years ago in the first round.

Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and the San Antonio Spurs are back in the Western Conference finals for the second straight season with the same style that has carried them to four NBA titles. Don't call these guys old just yet. After wearing down the younger Golden State Warriors in a grueling six-game series, the Spurs look as spry as ever. And they already know what to expect when they open the conference finals at home against Memphis on Sunday. "It's going to be a rough one," Duncan said.

SAN ANTONIO is halfway to turning the Western Conference finals into a runaway. Tony Parker scored 34 points, Manu Ginobili added 20 and the Spurs stayed perfect in the playoffs with a 120-111 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 on Tuesday night. The Spurs set an NBA record with their 20th consecutive victory bridging the regular season and the playoffs. They came in sharing the longest such streak with the 2000-01 Lakers, who won 19 straight before losing to the Sixers in the first game of the Finals.

LOS ANGELES - The path to the NBA for any player is rarely an easy one. For San Antonio Spurs reserve guard Gary Neal, the path was a little bumpier than most. As many in the Philadelphia area will recall, Neal was a standout player his freshman and sophomore years under Billy Hahn at La Salle. In 2002-03 and 2003-04, Neal accumulated 1,041 points in 57 games for the Explorers and drained 150 three-pointers. His range was pretty much anywhere around 20th and Olney and his penchant for making big - and long - shots was reaching legendary heights.

76ers Notes As if the most obvious number of all, team record, wasn't daunting enough for the 76ers heading into Friday night's game against the San Antonio Spurs, even more eye-popping numbers were available the deeper you dug. San Antonio, the NBA's best team, entered the game with a 44-8 record. The 76ers, an improving team, were 24-28. Earlier in the season, on Nov. 13, the Spurs defeated the Sixers, 116-93. That game was never close. Since then, the Spurs have separated themselves as the front-runners for the NBA title: Every team in the history of the league that has started 44-8 or better has won the championship.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - You could have heard someone chewing gum when Andres Nocioni, arms spread wide, called out, "What are we doing?" During this most indicative moment of the 76ers' embarrassing 116-93 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night, the AT&T Center was surprisingly quiet. It was midway through the third quarter, more than halfway through the Sixers' collapse, and Nocioni had just received an over-the-back call while trying to grab the missed shot of teammate Marreese Speights.

The San Antonio Spurs have signed former La Salle guard Gary Neal to a contract. A team statement says terms aren't being disclosed. The 6-4, 210-pound Neal led the Spurs' summer league team in scoring with 16 points in 25.8 minutes per game in five games. He went undrafted in the 2007 NBA draft after playing at La Salle and then at Towson. Since then, he has played one season of pro basketball in Spain and two in Italy.

Usain Bolt easily won the 100 meters in 9.83 seconds last night in the Weltklasse meet in Zurich, Switzerland, the Jamaican's first competition since his record-shattering performance in the Beijing Olympics. Pamela Jelimo won the women's 800 in 1 minute, 54.01 seconds, the fastest time in more than two decades. The 18-year-old Kenyan won gold in Beijing. American sprinters Jeremy Wariner and Lolo Jones, who suffered Olympic defeats, won the men's 400 and women's 100 hurdles, respectively.