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The Phoenix Suns beat the San Antonio Spurs Monday to win Game 4, but the Spurs still have a commanding 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals of the 2005 NBA Playoffs. InsideHoops.com scanned local newspapers that cover the Suns and Spurs and presents quotes from their coverage:

Arizona Republic: Left for dead, the Suns have new life. If owner Robert Sarver has his way, they may have a new motto, too. "Remember the Red Sox," Sarver said, ducking into the winner's locker room. For now, it is enough that a beleaguered basketball team got off the canvas and showed some championship mettle.

Arizona Republic: There was Joe Johnson's shot over Bruce Bowen in the waning moments, with Bowen close enough to whisper in Johnson's ear; Amaré Stoudemire playing like the Tasmanian Devil in the final moments, and, sorry, there would be no Tim dunkin' in his vicinity; and the jaw-dropping sight of the Suns playing lockdown defense with the game on the line. Nothing is so big as the seeds the Suns planted on a contentious evening in San Antonio. "It shows what you're capable of doing," the Suns' Jimmy Jackson said. "And now you're spoiled. You want to keep doing it."

East Valley Tribune: Joe Johnson looked as good as new. Shawn Marion arose from a serieslong slumber. The Suns got back to running. And Amaré Stoudemire played the fiercest defense of his career in the Suns' most frantic minute of the season. The result: The Grim Reaper has receded into the graveyard for at least two days. The Suns pulled out a thriller, a 111-106 win over the Spurs Monday night to pull within 3-1 in the Western Conference finals. They'll make one more trip back here to the SBC Center on Friday only if they can win again at home Wednesday night. "They put together the perfect game," said Tim Duncan, the Spurs' disappointed superstar, who saw his free throw shooting woes return.

Arizona Republic: Joe Johnson got his groove back Monday night at the SBC Center. That was the consensus opinion from those directly involved in the Suns' had-to-have 111-106 victory over San Antonio in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals. Johnson, who missed the first two games of this series while recovering from a displaced orbital fracture near his left eye that he suffered earlier in the playoffs, scored 26 points, a career-high for the postseason in just his second game back from a 6 1/2-game hiatus.

Arizona Republic: The Suns, trailing 3-1, sent the series back to Phoenix for Wednesday's Game 5 by running their way to a 57-percent shooting night. That sort of marksmanship was not enough early in the series when the defense failed in the fourth quarter. On this night, Phoenix found its fire in a 35-point third quarter and would not let San Antonio douse the flames when the Spurs rallied from 12 down, cutting the lead to one three times in the final 2:30.

Arizona Republic: After another clutch Robert Horry three-pointer trimmed the Suns' advantage to one, Stoudemire scored again in the lane over a mismatched, switching Tony Parker for a 109-106 lead. That play's beauty came in Nash's 12th assist. He was trapped on the baseline with Duncan draping him before he found Stoudemire while falling out of bounds. Fifteen seconds later, Stoudemire was recovering from helping on Ginobili to block Duncan's potential dunk in much the same way he ended a regular-season Sacramento win by swatting Brad Miller at the buzzer. But he still was not done, chasing and outhustling Ginobili to corral a Johnson miss that led to Nash's two game-clinching free throws.

Arizona Republic: There were no SBC Center chants of "MVP" for Tim Duncan at the end of this one. There was just one fan pleading for Duncan to catch some rim on a late trip to the free-throw line. Two nights after going 15 for 15 at the line, Duncan missed 9 of 12 in the five-point loss. But even more unlike an MVP, Duncan had two chances to score under the basket in the final 71 seconds and came up empty on both because of AmarÈ Stoudemire's defense. There's a strong defensive player lurking in Stoudemire that will eventually come out.

San Antonio Express-News: The Spurs are like chameleons, all right. They can play fast; they can play slow. And sometimes their slippery, reptilian fingers let free throws and jump shots slip away. Tony Parker has done this as recently as the previous series, and his six turnovers and 12 missed shots were a marked departure from what he had been doing. But the lizard king Monday night was the free-throw king the game before. How does Tim Duncan go from 15 for 15 at the line to 3 for 12?

San Antonio Express-News: But just as incredible is what Duncan did when no one was trying to block his shot. Duncan missed nine free throws in a five-point loss, and once he missed everything. But Duncan is capable of airballs at home when there shouldn't be pressure, as are the Spurs. They can appear so strong-willed for stretches, then so fragile for no apparent reason. Parker is just as vulnerable, and he had these moments in the 2003 title run, too.

San Antonio Express-News: For Duncan, the mental aspect is especially biting. He's a smart man who prides himself on his control of the mind; remember, he graduated from college with a psychology degree. So when he loses all touch — when he sees the rim as if it's the size of a chameleon — it's his personal hell. A fourth-quarter timeout showed that. He missed two free throws with about eight minutes left, and one of the shots was nearly another airball.

San Antonio Express-News: "I just missed," Parker said after connecting on only 5 of 17 shots from the field in the Suns' 111-106 victory over the Spurs in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals. "It happens sometimes," said Parker, who finished with 13 points after averaging 23.7 through the first three games of the series. "I'm just going to come back strong. I'm not going to worry about that." All but one of Parker's field goals came on drives and only one came after halftime. He missed 11 of 12 jumpers, including five in the third quarter when the Suns outscored the Spurs 35-21 to take an 87-80 lead into the fourth period.

San Antonio Express-News: Parker's struggles weren't limited to his shooting. He also committed a game-high six turnovers and dished out only five assists in 35 minutes. His counterpart on the Suns, Steve Nash, handed out 12 assists and had only two turnovers in 42 minutes. Nash finished with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. Parker and the Spurs struggled to stop the league's most valuable player in transition, a big reason why the Suns hit 9 of 18 3-point attempts.

San Antonio Express-News: On a night when Spurs' defensive specialist Bruce Bowen had a breakout offensive game and hit what could have been one of the biggest 3-point shots of his playoff career, it was a defensive stop he did not make that left him shaking his head in wonderment. It wasn't for lack of all of Bowen's defensive skill that Phoenix's Joe Johnson was able to make a 16-foot jump shot from the left corner to give the Suns a 104-101 lead, a critical make in their 111-106 victory in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals at the SBC Center.

San Antonio Express-News: For Bowen, the disappointment of a loss in a game that could have sent the Spurs into NBA Finals 2005 overshadowed his best offensive performance of the series. He made 6-of-11 shots, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range. Bowen was shooting with such confidence that Popovich used a time out with 1:11 remaining, and the Spurs trailing by four points, 107-103, to design a play to produce an open 3-pointer for him.

San Antonio Express-News: After Tony Parker clanged one more jump shot at the buzzer, the Spurs walked off the floor, heads bowed, pondering their travel plans to Phoenix for Wednesday's Game 5. "We're upset, we're angry, but the series continues," Ginobili said. "We're still in great shape. The goal is getting to the Finals, not to sweep them."

San Antonio Express-News: Ginobili scored 28 points and Bowen kept the Spurs alive with a pair of late 3-pointers. Phoenix, however, needed only a little more than three minutes to erase the Spurs' seven-point lead at the half and seize control of the game. The Spurs, with Phoenix's cross-matchups complicating matters, struggled to find the Suns' shooters in transition. "As soon as you blink," Ginobili said, "they can kill you."