Spurs draw first blood

With blood spewing from a cut on his nose, Steve Nash could only watch from the bench while the San Antonio Spurs put away Game 1 of the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals.

“There was nothing I could do,” he said. “It was obviously frustrating, but it was really out of my hands.”

Tim Duncan had 33 points and 16 rebounds -- eight offensive -- and Tony Parker added 32 points to lead the Spurs to a rugged 111-106 victory Sunday over Nash’s Suns at Phoenix.

Nash scored 31 points but missed a crucial 45 seconds in the final minute because of the bloody cut on his nose, the result of a head-on collision with Parker with 2:53 to play. The cut required six stitches after the game.

“You only see things like that in a boxing match,” the Spurs’ Robert Horry said, “where a guy cuts his nose and it won’t stop bleeding. You feel bad for the guy because you want to have the best team out there at the end of the game, and he wasn’t out there.”

Parker, who loves to play against the fast Suns and averaged 28 points against them in the regular season, was one shy of his career playoff high.

Amare Stoudemire had 20 points and 18 rebounds but made only six of 19 shots for the Suns.

With blood oozing around the bandage, Nash left with the Suns trailing, 106-104, with 54 seconds left. The bleeding finally was contained and Nash returned with 9.1 seconds to go.

Asked if he thought the Suns would have won had he not been forced to sit, Nash said, “It’s impossible to say, but I think we would have had a shot. It was pretty bad timing, but you know that’s life.”

Neither team led by more than eight points in a matchup of the teams with the two best records left in the playoffs.

Cleveland 81, New Jersey 77 -- LeBron James scored 21 points despite a bad head cold and the Cavaliers’ defense limited the Nets’ big three in a Game 1 victory at Cleveland.

Cleveland, which made only 40% of its shots, held New Jersey to 37% shooting and outrebounded the Nets, 51-37. New Jersey also made only five of 20 three-point shots en route to its lowest point total in 22 playoff games.

Vince Carter’s 21 points led New Jersey, but Jason Kidd, who averaged a triple-double in the Nets’ opening-round win over Toronto, had only seven points on two-for-11 shooting. Richard Jefferson added 16 points.

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