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The San Antonio Spurs beat the Suns 121-114 to game Game 1 of the 2004-05 NBA Western Conference finals. Here's what Spurs stars Tim Duncan and Tony Parker said after the game:

TIM DUNCAN AFTER GAME 1

Q. How is your ankle?

TIM DUNCAN: It did pretty good tonight. I felt pretty good. First quarter was a little stiff. Didn't have much pop, not really confident on it. After that, it really warmed up, felt pretty good.

Q. Tim, if you look at the fourth quarter of this game, looked like roles reversed. You put up 43 points and took the game to them. And also hit a lot more threes than they did. Talk a little bit about that?

TIM DUNCAN: Yeah, a little different. That's not the kind of quarter that we would expect in a game like this. We wanted to stay in the 20s. Even keep them below that if possible. Not a game we expected, but one we'll take. We're going to get an opportunity, these guys are going to get opportunity. If we move the ball and we're in attack mode. I thought Manu was great tonight, Brent was great tonight. He was great taking shots when they were there. Shot with confidence, knocked them out. Not a situation we expect to be in, scoring that many points in the fourth quarter, but an opportunity we'll take.

Q. Were you guys pretty much comfortable the way the tempo was in this game?

TIM DUNCAN: Yeah. Got a little frantic there for a little while got away from us a little while. Jim Jackson hit a couple of threes in that third quarter that put them ahead. All and all I think we were pretty comfortable with the pace. We would love to play a little more controlled, but opportunities are there, moving the ball and we're taking shots. We're not forcing things. That's the kind of game we want to play.

Q. How important was it to hold Shawn Marion to three points?

TIM DUNCAN: Not something you plan, honestly. Steve Nash and Amare, they both played great games. Shawn never got going. I thought Bruce did a good job on them. Didn't give him the shots that he usually got. The shots that he did get, I think he just out of rhythm at that point and he missed a couple of shots. I expect a much better game from him next time. We'll take a game like that again. We'll defend the best we can, but he's going to make some shots. We're not going to hold him down for the entire series like that.

Q. Any doubt past couple of days that you would be able to play?

TIM DUNCAN: After the first night it was a question, but after yesterday I felt pretty good moving around, got in here a little early and went to the practice court, felt pretty good. I knew I would be able to go out and play. I didn't know how it would react after some time, but it turned out that it felt pretty good and Pop left me in there and got to play my regular minutes and just kind of went from there.

Q. I wanted to ask you about that he said he didn't want to take you out for fear of your ankle freezing up. Talk about the irony of you wondering whether you would play and ending up playing more?

TIM DUNCAN: At halftime I was really worried about that, worried about going in the locker room and it freezing up. I went in there got in the whirlpool to keep some heat on it, and actually sat in the training room while we had our meeting, got retaped and went back out. Got out there with like a minute left on the clock. Just trying to keep it moving keep it warm didn't want to freeze it up like it did in the first quarter.

It felt pretty good and I forgot about it played through it, that was the best part about it.

Q. You are known as a defensive team. Do you have fun playing in a back and forth game like this?

TIM DUNCAN: It's a little nerve wracking at times because, you know what, you get shots, you take shots, and it's not a game that we usually play but if the shots are there, we have got guys that will take them and make them.

We want to play games in the 90s and the 80s, but when opportunities are there, we're going to take the shots. I thought we did a great job of mixing the tempos, playing controlled at times and when the opportunity was there to do it we pushed it back out.

Q. You talked about the running back and forth, maybe you don't like to do it but in those cases in these type of games how important is your bench?

TIM DUNCAN: Huge for us. We're going to need some great play from guys, continued great play from Rob. He has been playing incredibly entire post season. We're going to need Brent to continue to do what he does. Give us some time there. We're need guys to step up. I thought also, not a bench guy, but Nazr was great tonight. We're going to need another guy like Rasho or Mass to come in there and fill some time because we might get some foul trouble or whatever else. Our bench is going to be huge for us.

Q. Game one, home court advantage. How great is that?

TIM DUNCAN: It's great, but we don't want to look too far ahead and say you know what, we got one, let's go back home like this. We would love to go out there and get this second one, really put them on their heals. That's our focus. We're happy to get this one but we're not overly ecstatic. We want to really hurt them here and get that next one.

Q. Do you think it threw them off the way you came out and defended them?

TIM DUNCAN: It might have thrown them off for a couple of possessions. I thought they made adjustment, especially second half they lifted Kouwe and got him up on the top of the key there trying to get him some looks. As I said, I thought Bruce did a really good job of denying Marion the ball and not giving him the back doors and some of the easy stuff that he usually gets. And whether it threw them off or not they will be ready for it next time. Whether we decide to go that way or not, and it's all about adjustments on the fly. So I can't imagine that it threw them off that much.



TONY PARKER AFTER GAME 1

Q. Do you think it threw them off a little bit the way you guys started with the game with the matchups?

TONY PARKER: Maybe a little bit. I don't think so, you know, I don't think it matters. They are going to play fast. They are going to do whatever they want. I don't think it changed it changed something because they are still going to play pick and rolls. I don't think Quentin is a big part of the offense, so I don't think it changed something in the offense.

Q. When you guys got down by eight or nine were you pretty confident that because of the way they played defense you would be able to come back?

TONY PARKER: Definitely. We can't panic. Phoenix are going to make runs. They are the best team in offense so they are going to score a lot of points. We can't panic. We know on the other end we can score too. We can hurt them inside. Timmy played great tonight and when they start double teaming him, Brent came out huge and makes some threes, and by the end of the game we made our run. We picked threes and that's how we got the game.

Q. Why were you so successful in the third quarter?

TONY PARKER: I think because Timmy was doing a great job in the third quarter, by the fourth quarter they were double teaming him, it allows me to be open up. We had a lot of wide open shots. When they double team, we have got a lot of stuff for the guards.

Q. How important is it for you to go back at Steve Nash?

TONY PARKER: He's going to play a lot of minutes. Get him tired. All the offense goes through him, so, over the course of the series we need to get him tired. He played a lot of minutes in the playoffs, so I need to go back at him and be aggressive, and attack him and because I know he's going to attack me.

Q. Talk about Brent Barry's performance tonight.

TONY PARKER: He came up huge. Two days ago after we won against Seattle he was a little bit down and I talked to him. I told him it's a little bit like Robert last year when he tried so hard to beat the Lakers and I thought Brent did the same thing, he tried too hard. He was not himself. And I told him stay with us, keep shooting you are going to have a huge series against Phoenix because they are going to score a lot of points so we're going to need our bench.

First game tonight he came out big. Big these, and I am very happy for him because he has been struggling for the whole season. He played great tonight. I hope he's going to keep it going because we need him.

Q. Were you worried how Tim Duncan would hold up, with all his running and recently being banged up?

TONY PARKER: A little bit. Beginning of the game a little bit. I saw him out there he was confident with his move. Made some quick moves. Attacking the basket I was not worried anymore. We have to have confidence in him. He knows his body.

Q. Looked like at the end he was out of gas?

TONY PARKER: It was not him. Robert is getting old. It was Robert. He needed a timeout (laughs.) I was asking why, Robert, you know (laughs) that was funny.