Former San Antonio Spurs guard Bruce Bowen, a defensive wizard, retired Thursday, ending a 12-year NBA career. Bowen, 38, played on three championship teams with San Antonio, but was used sparingly in his first five seasons with Boston, Philadelphia and Miami. The 6-foot-7 inch, 200-pound Cal State-Fullerton product finished with per-game averages of 6.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 873 NBA contests. I will no longer play basketball professionally, Bowen said Thursday at a news conference in San Antonio.

By John Nadel, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES - Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers waited until the third quarter to get going. Once they did, the San Antonio Spurs couldn't stop them.

By Chris Colston SAN ANTONIO -- So this is why they're the defending champions. On a night when everything clicked, the San Antonio Spurs evened this NBA Western Conference semifinal series at two games apiece with a 100-80 victory against the New Orleans Hornets.

Extraordinary in almost every way imaginable, LeBron James appears to have one major flaw in his splendid game: he's a slow starter. During the regular season, and now in the playoffs, James has developed a pattern of bad beginnings.

Facing elimination after a heartbreaking loss, the Phoenix Suns are conceding nothing. They believe they can win Game 6 on Friday night and bring the tense, taut series back to the desert for Game 7.