Duncan dominant with O誰eal out

SAN ANTONIO - Shaquille O’Neal was 2-0 against the San Antonio Spurs in the regular season. But Round 1 of the postseason went to the Spurs and their Hall of Fame big man, Tim Duncan.

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Duncan dominated O’Neal and the Suns with 40 points and 15 rebounds in the Spurs’ 117-115 double-overtime victory Saturday at the AT&T Center.

O’Neal, on the other hand, was saddled by foul trouble throughout the game and had just 11 points and five rebounds, three fewer than backup point guard Leandro Barbosa.

“We beat ourselves today,” O’Neal said.

O’Neal had limited Duncan to 15-of-40 shooting in their regular-season matchups, but he couldn’t be as aggressive as he wanted on the defensive end Saturday because of foul trouble. He picked up two fouls before the game was four minutes old, then collected his third when Mike D’Antoni brought him in with two seconds left on the shot clock and O’Neal was called for pushing off a defender.

He played just 4:11 in the first half and had no points and one rebound.

“The floppers prevailed today,” O’Neal said. “Hopefully, those guys will decide to compete instead of falling down.”

Without O’Neal to contend with, Duncan had a field day against Amaré Stoudemire and Boris Diaw, making 16 of his 24 shots.

“The fouls really hurt us tonight and it’s a shame, because we had a very good game plan to work against the Spurs,” Raja Bell said. “We never gave Shaq a chance to get into a solid rhythm and make his shots.”

Even when O’Neal was in the game, things didn’t go his way. With nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, he was called for goaltending on a Michael Finley 3-pointer that hit the front of the rim and looked like it wasn’t going in the basket.

The Suns led by nine at the time, but instead of having the ball and a chance to pad the lead to double-digits, the Spurs trailed by just six.

O’Neal not only suffered the indignity of having to watch much of the game from the bench, he had to endure San Antonio going to a “Hack-a-Shaq” defense in the fourth quarter.

With 6:09 left in the quarter and the Suns holding an 82-77 lead, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich ordered center Fabricio Oberto to intentionally foul O’Neal.

When O’Neal missed both free-throw attempts after the second foul, he was benched by D’Antoni and didn’t return until 2:14 was left in regulation.

By then, the Spurs had taken their first lead of the game.

“That is just a roll-the-bones type of deal,” Popovich said. “Sometimes Shaq misses his free throws and sometimes he makes five in a row. ... We don’t do it often, if ever, but for whatever reason, I felt like doing it at the time.”

The maneuver clearly irritated O’Neal, as did questions about it after the game.

“Quit acting stupid,” he said. “You evidently didn’t watch the game.”

Like many of his teammates, O’Neal was disappointed but unbowed. He’s convinced the Suns have what it takes to beat the Spurs in a seven-game series.

“We beat ourselves today,” he said. “We let them have one.”