Spurs wrap up third seed with win over Jazz

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The San Antonio Spurs wrapped up the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference playoffs in dominant fashion, routing the Utah Jazz 109-80 on Wednesday night.

The Spurs will face the sixth-seeded Phoenix Suns in the first round. The Jazz will take on the Houston Rockets.

The Spurs' win, coupled with Houston's victory earlier Wednesday evening, firmed up seeds 3-6 in the West, which were still up in the air on the last day of the regular season.

Houston gets the fifth seed but will have home-court advantage against the No. 4-seeded Jazz, who secured that spot because they won the Northwest Division.

While the Jazz were guaranteed either the third or fourth seed no matter what happened Wednesday, the Spurs had the potential to drop as low as sixth.

Tony Parker had 24 points and 12 assists for San Antonio in the easy win. Tim Duncan added 14 points and 11 rebounds, and four other Spurs scored in double digits.

C.J. Miles led the Jazz with 12 points. Mehmet Okur scored 11 and Carlos Boozer had 10 rebounds.

The San Antonio-Phoenix matchup could be the best of the first round. The two met in the second round last season and the Spurs eliminated the Suns in six games on their way to their fourth title in nine seasons. But with the Eastern Conference weaker last year, many considered the Spurs-Suns series as on par with a finals matchup.

It certainly lived up to expectations by featuring plenty of bumps and bruises, controversial fouls and harsh words between the teams.

But the usually fast-moving, high-scoring Suns are a different team this postseason. They acquired Shaquille O'Neal in a blockbuster trade and have been melding him into their system to give the team a defensive boost.

Phoenix won the season series against San Antonio 3-1, including a 96-79 rout April 9 in San Antonio.

The Rockets are playing without Yao Ming, but had one of the season's headlines as they went on a 22-game winning streak.

But now the Rockets will also be without Rafer Alston, who strained his right hamstring against Denver on Sunday. Alston said he would likely miss Houston's first two playoff games.

Utah won the season series against Houston 2-1. The Jazz eliminated the Rockets last year in a first-round series that went seven games.