Sorry, Pistons, but the NBA title will be decided in the Western Conference semifinal between the Suns and the Spurs, two teams with more in common than you might think

	Stoudemire (sandwiched by Duncan, rear, and Francisco Elson) has struggled against the Spurs all season, scoring nearly six points below his average. John W. McDonough/SI

Welcome to the NBA Finals. The league has thoughtfully fast-tracked its premier event to end the drama a month earlier than usual. Lord knows it's not to beat the heat (or, for that matter, the Heat, which is already beat), because this potential championship series is being contested in the high-mercury venues of Phoenix and San Antonio. But given the level of play in Sunday's opener between the Suns and the Spurs, it sure seems as if the eventual champion will come out of their Western Conference semifinal.

Yes, the Detroit Pistons, who steamrollered the Chicago Bulls in the first two games of the Eastern semis, going up 2-0 on Monday night, might have something to say about it. And, yes, the same theory was proffered last year when San Antonio and the Dallas Mavericks -- remember them? -- hooked up at this juncture in a seven-game classic. The Mavericks won, beat the Suns in the next round, then promptly collapsed against Miami in the Finals.

But both the Spurs, who won Sunday's opener 111-106 at US Airways Center in Phoenix, and the Suns, whose superstar point guard, Steve Nash, spilled more blood in Game 1 than Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya did last Saturday night in Las Vegas, have more heart than the Duds from Big D. And though the Pistons, seemingly the class of the East, are well versed in execution and intensity, both Western teams have more talent and depth in their toolboxes than Detroit.

Although some analyzed the series on the basis of tempo -- high-octane Phoenix versus dreary, ball-control San Antonio -- one of the factors that makes both these teams so formidable is their adaptability. "The Suns have more control and rhyme to their reason than people think," says Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, "and we run more than people think." Emphasis on the latter. What was most troubling to Phoenix about Game 1 is that the triple-digit point totals should have signaled a victory. "We'd rather play in the 90s or even 80s," says San Antonio forward Tim Duncan, who had a game-high 33 points, "but we've got a lot of guys who are shooting the ball well, moving the ball well, and the points are going up on the board."

Game 1 featured, among other things: more matchup adjustments than at a swingers convention (6'7" Suns forward Shawn Marion defended 6'2" point guard Tony Parker one minute and switched onto the 6'11" Duncan the next); a technical foul called before a shot was taken in the third quarter (Suns assistant Marc Iavaroni got hit for griping about a foul whistled late in the second quarter); and a head-banging collision between Nash and Parker that left the latter on the floor but, more important, the former on the bench in crunch time.