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PHOENIX (Ticker) -- The road to the NBA title goes through Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs. Jason Kidd and the Phoenix Suns opted to go over them. Kidd snapped a tie with an 18-foot jumper over Duncan with 56 seconds left and added a steal and jumper 13 seconds later as the Suns overtook the Spurs, 77-74, and handed the defending champions their first loss of the season. "I don't look at it as extra satisfaction beating them," Kidd said. "This is early in the season." Kidd collected 23 points, seven assists and three steals but saved his biggest plays for the final minute. With the score tied 67-67, he tried to use a pick to get free but the 7-foot Duncan jumped out to defend him. Kidd took a dribble back and buried the shot, giving Phoenix its first lead of the game. After a timeout, Duncan threw a poor inbounds pass that was deflected by Penny Hardaway. Kidd corraled the loose ball and sank another mid-range jumper for a 71-67 lead with 43 seconds to go. "The biggest play obviously was the steal by Penny at the end," Suns coach Danny Ainge said. Phoenix led by six points before San Antonio staged a furious rally in the final 10 seconds. Terry Porter made a layup, the Spurs forced a five-second violation and Porter sank a 3-pointer to make it 75-74 with 5.1 seconds left. But Kidd calmly sank a pair of foul shots and the Spurs never attempted a potential tying 3-pointer. "We played well most of the game but they played well at the most important time of the game, the last four or five minutes," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. In the lowest-scoring game of the NBA season, Duncan collected 15 points and 17 rebounds. But he made just 6-of-18 shots, 3-of-8 free throws and committed six turnovers as the Suns swarmed him with double-teams and different defenders. "It was just a horrible game for us," Duncan said. "I led us in turnovers and missed free throws. This can't happen." Rodney Rogers scored 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter for the Suns, who celebrated the seventh anniversary of America West Arena with their 200th win in the building. "When you're playing the world champs, there's no better feeling in the world than to beat them," Rogers said. "We had tremendous defense and we pulled the game out." "We were desperate for someone to step up and Rodney and Jason did," Ainge said. "We were a little out of sync offensively. We're not sure what shots we should take and what shots we should not take." The Spurs never trailed through the first three quarters and took a 58-51 lead into the final period. But Rogers found the range and his second 3-pointer of the quarter gave Phoenix a 67-67 tie with 2:18 to play. Duncan missed two free throws on the next possession. "In the fourth quarter, I was wide open with the shots and I had to take them," Rogers said. "I missed one earlier and got down about it but (Ainge) said, 'Don't worry about it.' I went on and made some nice moves and nice shots." San Antonio limited Phoenix to 12 points in the first quarter and held a 38-31 halftime lead behind 10 points apiece from Duncan and Jaren Jackson. Two free throws by Malik Rose built a 48-33 advantage with 7:57 left in the third quarter. Limited to barely a point per minute by the Spurs' stifling defense, the Suns used a 14-2 burst capped by Kidd's 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 50-47 with 4:14 to go in the period. Tom Gugliotta had 12 points and nine rebounds and Hardaway added 11 and 10 for Phoenix (2-1), which shot below 40 percent (33-of-83) for the second straight game, winning both. David Robinson had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Jackson scored 12 points for the Spurs, who shot 38 percent (32-of-84) and held a 52-47 rebounding edge. "When you lose like this it's hard because you know every little play down the stretch, you didn't get done. It was our game to win," Robinson said. "We had the game under control, then we do a couple of stupid things."
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