Duncan carries San Antonio in series opener

Bruce Bowen came up big, defensively, on the game's final possession.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Avery Johnson should've known better than to underestimate Tim Duncan. Especially in the playoffs.
In the opener of a second-round series against the San Antonio Spurs Sunday, Johnson took the calculated risk of letting his former teammate go against his centers with only limited help.
Duncan, a three-time Finals MVP who teamed with Johnson for the Spurs' 1999 championship, made the strategy backfire by scoring 20 of his 31 points in the first half, giving his worn-out teammates the lift they needed to pull out an 87-85 victory Sunday.
"Timmy was awesome," teammate Tony Parker said. "When he plays like that, it makes it easy for everybody."
The Spurs were playing just 36 hours after closing out their first-round series in Sacramento, while the Mavs had been off since Monday.
Knew it was coming
Both teams, however, had been bracing for this meeting most of the season because of a flaw in the NBA's seeding system that forced them to meet in the second round, regardless of the fact they both hit 60 wins.
Neither team needed much time to prepare for the other, anyway, considering all the ties between them -- from Johnson's time in San Antonio and his close relationship with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich to San Antonio reserve Michael Finley having spent the last nine years on the Mavericks.
But at game's end, when the difference should've benefited Dallas the most, it was San Antonio that persevered -- thanks mostly to Bruce Bowen.
Bowen hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:15 left that ended up being the winner. His biggest contribution, though, was pestering Dirk Nowitzki into a forgettable game with what Johnson called "bear-hug defense."
Nowitzki was 8-of-20 for 20 points after averaging 31.3 in the first round. It was a bit of redemption for Bowen after not living up to his first-team All-Defense reputation against Sacramento's Bonzi Wells in the first round.
Responds
"You don't want people talking bad about you," Bowen said. "You get a little upset and your pride gets hurt a little bit."
Bowen came up big on the game's final possession, which began with 13.9 seconds left.
Nowitzki got the ball on the right side, but Bowen was all over him. When Nowitzki tried going right, Duncan headed his way. So Nowitzki threw a crosscourt pass to Jerry Stackhouse.
Manu Ginobili nearly intercepted it, but Stackhouse recovered. He could've driven for a tying shot, but instead stepped back into the left corner and put up a well-covered 3 that came up way short.
"Somehow, if I had a little more on it, then maybe we'd have a different feeling right now," said Stackhouse, who led Dallas with 24 points. "We came in here with the right attitude, right energy, but we let them take the game."
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