Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili both scored 31 points to lead the Spurs to a 110-99 victory over the visiting New Orleans Hornets in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals.

With the win, the Spurs avoided falling into an ominous 0-3 hole from which no NBA team has never returned.

Chris Paul led the Hornets, who still hold a 2-1 series lead, with 35 points and nine assists. David West had 23 points and 12 rebounds for New Orleans, which was dominant in the first two games of the series.

Game 4 is Sunday night in San Antonio.

With the Spurs' win, the home teams are 10-0 in the four conference semifinal series.

After trading leads all night, the Spurs led, 83-78, entering the fourth quarter.

Ginobili led a Spurs charge early in the final period. Left alone, he hit a wide-open three and was fouled by Bonzi Wells, who scrambled at him to guard the shot. Ginobili's free throw put San Antonio up 87-82, and another three by Ginobili 38 seconds later made it 90-84.

New Orleans got within 90-88 before the Spurs took over.

San Antonio went on an 11-0 burst featuring Ginobili, Parker and Tim Duncan to take a 101-88 lead with 5:57 to play.

The Spurs couldn't stop Paul, but West missed three of four free throws and the Hornets got no closer than 10 points in the latter half of the quarter.

The Spurs outscored the Hornets, 27-21, in the fourth.

In another game:

* At Boston, Paul Pierce scored 19 points, Kevin Garnett added 13 with 12 rebounds, and Ray Allen broke out of a seven-quarter scoring drought with 16 points to help the Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 89-73, and take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

One game after going 2-for-18 from the field and missing his last six shots, including a layup to tie the game with 8.5 seconds left, James missed his first three tries and finished with 21 points on 6-for-24 shooting.

Game 3 is tomorrow night in Cleveland. Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 19 points for the Cavaliers, and reserve Anderson Varejao had 10 rebounds in 32 minutes after forward Ben Wallace went to the locker room just 3:40 into the game because of dizziness he attributed to allergies.

Noteworthy

* Kiki Vandeweghe became the New Jersey Nets' general manager, less than 6 months after being hired as a special assistant to team president Rod Thorn. Vandeweghe replaces Ed Stefanski, who left in midseason to become the 76ers' president.

* A federal judge ruled documents subpoenaed from a group that attempted to buy the Seattle SuperSonics from their Oklahoma-based owners can remain sealed. A trial is due to start next month in the city of Seattle's attempt to enforce the final 2 years of the Sonics' lease at KeyArena.

* Kobe Bryant added another honor to go with his MVP award, becoming the only unanimous selection to the All-NBA team. The Lakers star was voted to the first team for the third straight season and sixth time in his career. Joining Bryant on the first team were New Orleans guard Chris Paul, who was three votes shy of being a unanimous pick, along with Boston's Kevin Garnett, Cleveland's LeBron James and Orlando center Dwight Howard.

Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash, of Phoenix, were voted to the second team along with San Antonio's Tim Duncan, Utah guard Deron Williams and Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki. The third team consisted of Houston's Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, plus Utah's Carlos Boozer, Boston's Paul Pierce and the Spurs' Manu Ginobili, the league's top sixth man. *