NBA West: Just park it here
TweetSAN Antonio's Tony Parker scored 37 points in his best postseason game as the Spurs iced the Grizzlies 93-86 in Memphis today to complete the 4-0 sweep of their Western Conference Final.
The Spurs now have won six straight playoff games to make it to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2007, their arrival sure to hasten Miami's desire to quickly erase Indiana.
The Grizzlies went from unbeaten on their own turf in the best playoff run in franchise history ... to being swept aside by a team often referred to as too old and too predictable.
Parker was 15-of-21 from the floor and 6-of-6 at the stripe, guaranteeing San Antonio plenty of rest and recovery ahead of Game 1 of the Finals on June 6.
"It's a great feeling," Parker said with the Western Conference trophy in front of him.
"Since last year, I promised Tim (Duncan) we would go back to the Finals and get an opportunity to win the whole thing. Everybody on the team, we really want to do it for him.
"We win the West and now one more step - the hardest one."
Duncan embraced the third member of their triumverate, Manu Ginobili, before heading for the changerooms to celebrate a shot at the championship which evaporated last year when San Antonio dropped four straight after leading Oklahoma City 2-0.
"He's been amazing," Duncan said of Parker. "He's been carrying us. You can see tonight he carried us the entire game.''
Duncan had 15 points and eight boards as San Antonio put two more Aussies - FIBA Hall of Fame nominee Andrew Gaze and triple-champion Luc Longley, the others - Patrick Mills and Aron Baynes, within four wins of an NBA Championship ring.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said it was a testament to the longevity of the team's core - Duncan, Parker and Ginobili - to be back with a title shot.
"You don't expect that to happen maybe this late in the game with the same group," he said.
"It's tough to maintain something that long. It just shows the character of those three guys and the ability to play with whoever else is brought in around them. They deserve a lot of credit."
The Spurs shot 51.3 percent (39-of-76) and, despite losing the boards 34-41, outscored Memphis 52-32 in the paint.
Only Andrew Bogut's Golden State Warriors - before the big Aussie centre aggravated his ankle injury - have taken postseason games off San Antonio.
The Spurs swept Los Angeles Lakers 4-0, staved off the Warriors 4-2 and today completed the 4-0 rout of Memphis.

