Spurs have hands full in win over Kings

Maybe the Sacramento Kings would’ve preferred another trampling over what the San Antonio Spurs did to them on Tuesday night in San Antonio.

Dominant early and resilient late, the Kings were forced into overtime by a 3-pointer from Brent Barry that hit the rim twice, went high and fell through with 4 seconds left in regulation.

Then Manu Ginobili, who finished with a game-high 32 points, carried the defending champions to a 128-119 victory in Game 2 of their first-round series.

Game 3 is Friday in Sacramento.

San Antonio had its way with Sacramento in the opener, breaking things open in the second quarter and winning by 34. Perhaps thinking this one would be just as easy, especially with Kings forward Ron Artest serving a one-game suspension, the Spurs came out flat and were down by five at halftime.

Although San Antonio snapped out of it and went up by 10 in the third quarter, Bonzi Wells, who finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds, kept the Kings in the game.

Wizards 89, Cavaliers 84: Poof! And just like that, the Wizards put some kind of spell on LeBron James.

Gilbert Arenas scored 30 points, Antawn Jamison added 21 and Washington bottled up Cleveland’s superstar as the Wizards downed the Cavaliers to even their Eastern Conference series at one game apiece.

Caron Butler added 21 points and was Washington’s primary defender on James, who recorded a triple-double in his playoff debut but played like a mere mortal in his second postseason game.

James finished with 26 points on 7-of-25 shooting, but matched his career high with 10 turnovers.

The series shifts to Washington for Game 3 in the best-of-7 series on Friday.

Nets 90, Pacers 75: The Indiana Pacers were done in by things they couldn’t control: the referees and Vince Carter.

Carter rebounded from a dismal shooting performance to score 33 points and lead New Jersey to a victory over the foul-plagued and undermanned Pacers in East Rutherford, N.J., evening their first-round series at a game apiece.

Richard Jefferson added 21 points and Nenad Krstic had 20 points and 10 rebounds for New Jersey.

Game 3 is at Indiana on Thursday.

Jason Kidd added six points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds in a game the Pacers probably felt was decided a little too much by an officiating crew that included Violet Palmer, the first female to referee a postseason game.

The crew called two fouls apiece on Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal and Stephen Jackson in the first quarter, and the Pacers were never able to find their offense.

Johnson coach of year

Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson was named NBA coach of the year in his first full season as a coach.

Johnson led the Mavericks to 60 victories this season, matching the team record for wins.

Johnson got 63 first-place votes from the panel of 124 sports writers and broadcasters. He had 419 points, 172 more than Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni, last year’s winner. D’Antoni had 27 first-place votes.

Nuggets suspend Martin

Kenyon Martin was unhappy about his limited playing time in Denver’s playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers. Now he won’t be suiting up for the Nuggets at all.

The Nuggets suspended their forward indefinitely for what they called detrimental conduct.

“This is an internal matter that we will deal with in-house,” Nuggets coach George Karl said in a statement.