San Antonio Showdown with New Jersey

The San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets will go head-to-head to compete for the U.S. National Basketball Association (NBA) Championship trophy.

On May 30, the Spurs defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the 6th round of the Western Conference Finals (3rd round of the playoffs) 90-78 to move on to this final round of play.

This is the first time since 1999 that the Spurs find themselves in the finals. The Spurs will play against the Eastern Conference champions, the New Jersey Nets, beginning on June 5 for the Championship title.

In today`s game, right up until the 4th quarter, it was going badly for the Spurs with the score of 58-71 against the Mavericks. However, starting from the 4th quarter a miracle happened and the Spurs began to catch up with the Mavericks and turned the tables.

Ex-Chicago Bull player Steve Curr (age 37) shot four 3-point shots in the 4th quarter and became the hero of the day. Stephen Jackson scored 24 points and Tim Duncan scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds.

Won-Hong Lee bluesky@donga.com