New Jersey Nets Jason Kidd (five) and Mikki Moore (33) celebrate their victory over Cleveland Cavaliers in Game Five of their NBA Eastern Conference play-off semi-final series in Cleveland on Wednesday night. - Reuters

PHOENIX (AP):

BRUCE BOWEN made a three-pointer with 36 seconds to play on Wednesday night and the San Antonio Spurs beat the short-handed Phoenix Suns 88-85 to go up 3-2 in the Western Conference semi-finals.

The Spurs can close it out in Game Six tonight at San Antonio.

The Suns, without their all-NBA centre Amare Stoudemire and his replacement Boris Diaw, and using essentially a six-man rotation, nearly won a grind-it-out kind of game the Suns aren't supposed to be able to play.

They led by as many as 16 in the second quarter and were up 79-71 with 5:18 to play.

Manu Ginobili, who had an awful start, scored 15 of his 26 points in the final quarter to rally the Spurs, sinking two free throws to put San Antonio ahead 86-83 with 10.5 seconds to go.

Steve Nash badly missed a 3-pointer against Tim Duncan's defence, then Michael Finley made two free throws with 5.5 seconds left to seal the win.

Suspended for game

Stoudemire and Diaw were suspended for the game by the NBA for leaving the bench area following Robert Horry's flagrant foul on Nash with 18 seconds left in Game Four.

Horry got a two-game suspension. He also will miss Game Six.

In Cleveland, Jason Kidd scored 20 points and New Jersey somehow delayed an early summer vacation with an ugly 83-72 victory over Cleveland to pull within 3-2 in their play-off series. Doomed by an inability to execute down the stretch in this series, the Nets built a 22-point lead in the third quarter and then hung on for dear life to force a home Game Six in their Eastern Conference semis tonight.

New Jersey made one field goal and scored just six points in the fourth quarter on 1-of-15 shooting from the field.

The Nets were also only 4-of-10 from the free throw line in the final 12 minutes.

Cleveland, who blew a chance to close out the series on their home floor, weren't much better, shooting just 3-of-17 in the fourth.

The Cavaliers played the last 56 seconds without LeBron James, who injured himself tumbling over Cleveland's bench while scrambling for a loose ball with Kidd.

James led the Cavaliers with 20 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 16, but Larry Hughes gave Cleveland next to nothing, going 3-of-17 from the floor.