07:08 AM CDT on Friday, June 24, 2005

SAN ANTONIO – Before Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili could feast on another championship, they had to feed each other.

The San Antonio Spurs banked on their money players Thursday night and the dynamic duo did not disappoint. Playing the two-man game to perfection, Duncan and Ginobili made all the plays at crunch time as the Spurs won the NBA championship with an 81-74 triumph over the defending champion Detroit Pistons, winning the best-of-7 series 4-3.

"We just played a great team," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "I don't know how the hell we did it. But I'm thrilled."

They did it with Duncan shaking off an 0-for-8 stretch, then cranking out 17 of his game-high 25 points in the second half.

They did it with Ginobili doing a little bit of everything and scoring 23 points.

And they did it with defense, stifling the Pistons in the second half – when they got only 35 points.

"This," said Bruce Bowen, "is a beautiful moment."

Duncan and Ginobili have some distance to cover before they can join the likes of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen or Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. But the Spurs pair proved they have what it takes to be the NBA's next terrific twosome.

First, with the Spurs up by a precarious four points, Ginobili drove the paint, then flipped a pass to Duncan in the corner. His 20-footer was dead-on.

Then, after Detroit's Chauncey Billups scored, Duncan drew the entire defense into the paint, then found Ginobili outside the 3-point arc. The shot was pure, and the lead was 72-65. Combined, Ginobili and Duncan scored 12 of the Spurs' final 14 points.

"He was playing really well, dominating, so Detroit started worrying about him," said Ginobili, who joined a small group of players to win an Olympic gold medal (with Argentina) and an NBA title in the same season. "He was huge. Then it was my turn."

The Pistons would not threaten again. When Robert Horry took a charge, then knocked in two free throws with 16.6 seconds left to make it a six-point game, the forward had won a ring for the sixth time in his career. But this moment belonged to Duncan.

"He put his team on his shoulders," said Detroit's Ben Wallace, who had an admirable night with 12 points and 11 rebounds. "That's what the great ones do."

And the great ones usually have a sidekick. Ginobili was the perfect one on this night. "Manu's unbelievable," Duncan said. "And I don't even think we've scratched the surface with him."

The Pistons were trying to repeat as champions, but the NBA crown was destined to be a South Texas sombrero for the third time in seven seasons. The Spurs won the title in 1999 and 2003.

"I'm as proud of my team as I was June 16th last year," said Detroit coach Larry Brown, who will enter the hospital next week to take care of a medical problem stemming from hip surgery. "And I'm proud of their team.

"You want to win badly, but I also recognize that the other team deserved it."

And yet, as the fourth quarter unfurled, the Pistons could not have asked for a better situation. They were tied and had weathered a strong Spurs' surge late in the third stanza. And then, Horry's 3-pointer with 8:24 left put the Spurs up 64-59.

After Rasheed Wallace showed up briefly from a foul-plagued night for a bucket, the Spurs got a 3-pointer from Bowen for a six-point lead with six minutes left.

By then, an NFL game had broken out. It was the Packers and the Lions, playing on the SBC Center court instead of a frozen tundra.

Pushing, shoving, grabbing and holding as both sides played for their piece of history.