CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Bo Van Pelt hardly would call himself a fashion plate.
"I'm pretty much a khaki and white shirt guy, pretty bland," he said.
Yet that hardly describes his attire Friday at the Wachovia Championship. He stuck with the white shirt, but completed the ensemble with -- gasp! -- BRIGHT ORANGE PANTS.
"I guess I felt the heat," Van Pelt said. "I put on these orange pants, and I felt like I really better play good or I was going to get made fun of. Maybe I ought to wear them more often."
Something worked, that's for sure.
Van Pelt set the 36-hole tournament record, tying the course mark with a 64 Friday for a 10-under total of 134 at Quail Hollow. It was good for a three-shot lead over former U.S. Open champ Jim Furyk, with Davis Love III another stroke back.
Play was suspended for about 90 minutes during the afternoon because of thundershowers, then called off for good about 30 minutes after it resumed when more bad weather moved through.
Seventy-four players did not finish the round, although six players -- including John Daly -- didn't show up to finish the round, knowing they likely would miss the cut. Luke Donald also withdrew with a back injury.
The cut was at 2-over 146, and among those making it on the number was 52-year-old Jay Haas, who birdied three straight holes Saturday morning and finished with a par. His 23-year-old son, Bill Haas, completed a 72 and was six shots off the lead.
Masters champion Phil Mickelson dropped two shots in seven holes Saturday morning and was at 1-under 143.
Van Pelt matched the 64 shot by Kirk Triplett in the first round of the inaugural event in 2003.
"I was concentrating when I was out there, but it's always fun when you feel like you've got control over your golf ball," said Van Pelt, still looking for his first career victory. "You know, you feel like you can work it the way you want to work it. They rhythm with my putter felt really good, so that always helps."
He finished off his round in style with a birdie on the 17th hole -- one of only nine birdies made Friday on the 217-yard par 3 with a peninsula green. With the pin to the far left -- only 15 feet from the water -- Van Pelt hit a 5-iron into 6 feet.
He added a sand save on the finishing hole to complete his round of nine birdies and one bogey.
"It's not the end all, be all, but obviously I want to win," Van Pelt said. "It would mean a lot."
To do so, he needs to hold off a stellar field that includes eight of the 10 players in the world. Tiger Woods is missing, having already decided to skip the tournament for the first time in three years to be with his father, Earl, who died of cancer earlier in the week.
Furyk, who shared the first round lead with three other players, got to 9 under before some problems late, with bogeys at 16 and 17 spoiling his day a bit. He finished with a 69.
"Yeah, I'm disappointed," Furyk said. "I felt like in my mind I should have played those holes better. If those bogeys come at 4 and 13, you know, none of us would think twice about it. They just happened to come at 16 and 17."
Defending champ Vijay Singh was five shots behind after a 68 to leave him at 5-under 139.
"The golf course is a driving golf course, so you drive the ball and you can give yourself chances at birdies, like I did," said Singh, who beat Furyk and Sergio Garcia in a playoff last year. "No matter which way you do it, you've got to put the ball in the fairway."
Love didn't do that very well -- he found the short grass on only six of the 14 driving holes -- but he got away with it. He had three birdies to offset two bogeys on the front, then finished the back nine without another bogey to match his score of 69 from the first round.
Winless since 2003, when he won four times, Love is trying to put less pressure on himself these days.
"I think I've been trying too hard, obviously trying to win majors and trying to make Presidents Cup teams and Ryder Cup teams," he said. "I felt like the last two days, I went out and played and had fun and enjoyed myself, and got into playing golf."

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP)
-- Friends and relatives came to the Tiger Woods Learning Center on Friday to privately remember the golf star's father, Earl Woods, who died this week after a long battle with prostate cancer.
Earl Woods, 74, was best known for the impact he had on his son, who began hitting balls at age 3 after watching as his father practiced his swing in the family's garage. He died Wednesday at his Cypress home.
Mourners arrived at the memorial and reception after the burial at a cemetery in Cypress. In attendance were former basketball great Charles Barkley, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, Nike Chairman Phil Knight, volleyball player and model Gabrielle Reece and her husband, pro surfer Laird Hamilton, among others.
Limousines delivered Tiger Woods, his wife, Elin, and his mother, Kultida.
Police restricted reporters to a public sidewalk about 10 feet from the entrance to the center.
Earl Woods, who was more determined to raise a good son than a great golfer, was the driving force behind Tiger Woods' phenomenal career.
A smoker who had heart bypass surgery in 1986, Earl Woods was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998 and was treated with radiation. But the cancer returned in 2004 and spread throughout his body.
The last tournament he attended was the Target World Challenge in December 2004, when his son rallied to win and then donated $1.25 million to the Tiger Woods Foundation that his father helped him establish.
The 35,000-square-foot facility where the memorial and reception were held is located next to the H.G. "Dad" Miller Golf Course, where Tiger Woods played when he was in high school.
At the center's opening ceremony in February, Tiger Woods nearly broke down when he mentioned the support of his father, who was already too ill to attend.
"I talked to him last night," he said at the time. "He kept telling me how proud he was of what I was able to do, and proud of me for thinking of this. It's hard on all of us."

IRVING, Texas (AP)
-- Bill Parcells says he's happy to have Terrell Owens on the Dallas Cowboys.
It just took him 48 days to say so.
"I say, `I support it,' and that's the way we go," Parcells said Friday. "I don't view it as a gamble. It's in my best interest that he's successful. And it's in his best interest that he's successful. ...
"I'm not approaching this with the idea it's going to be adversarial or I'm going to be mandating every little thing this player does."
Parcells loves keeping a low profile in the offseason, but he took it to an extreme this year considering the high-profile move of signing Owens, the receiver whose spectacular plays tend to be overshadowed by personality conflicts with teammates and coaches.
When Parcells didn't talk last weekend after the first day of the draft -- something he did the previous three years -- speculation increased that he didn't agree with the move.
Finally, on Friday afternoon, following the start of a rookie minicamp, Parcells walked into his normal news conference setting and was greeted by almost as many cameras as the day he was hired. He sat down, smiled and said, "Well, let me see what you want to talk about here."
His response to the first question wasn't exactly seven weeks in the making.
"He's a good, productive player, has been for a long time," Parcells said. "I've seen quite a bit of him. I think he can help us."
First, Owens will have to adjust to a new offense, one in which "he's not going to catch 100 balls."
"He's been in the league for quite a while so I don't worry about him making that adjustment," Parcells said. "But it is going to be different."
Parcells spoke for 50 minutes, the first 26 strictly about Owens. He answered every question -- calmly, too.
Two things he was adamant about: He's not cutting Owens any slack by letting him do most of his offseason conditioning work away from team headquarters; and the decision to sign Owens and all other personnel moves are made by the trio of himself, team owner Jerry Jones and scouting director Jeff Ireland.
Parcells said agent Drew Rosenhaus warned the team all along that Owens had some other matters to deal with this spring. Parcells said he wanted them all taken care of now so they won't be in the way later. He said Owens will be in town before a June 2-4 minicamp.
"He's done exactly what I wanted," Parcells said. "I'm not giving him special leeway."
Parcells frequently brought up the front-office triumvirate with Jones and Ireland. He also mentioned several times that picking players "is about a 50-50 proposition anyway."
"We work as a team here, we really do," Parcells said. "Hey, now, I'm not going to say we don't have a difference of opinion on some things. Once we go, we're going. If we're wrong, we'll cut our losses and keep going."
Parcells avoided talking about incidents that ruined Owens' tenures in San Francisco and Philadelphia -- except to say, "My best guess is it really is a little exaggerated" -- Parcells instead spoke of glowing reports about Owens' work ethic and conditioning.
He especially likes that Owens "responds to competition."
"If the answer to that question was no, then I probably would've had a problem with bringing him here," Parcells said. "Everyone I consulted on that -- which was people who know, not guess, know -- were very positive in that regard."
One of the people Parcells called was David Culley, who played quarterback for Parcells at Vanderbilt in the mid-1970s and spent the last two seasons as Owens' position coach with the Eagles.
One of the people he didn't ask many questions of was Philadelphia coach Andy Reid. They chatted at the scouting combine in Indianapolis, but Parcells said it was mostly about which one of them could lose more weight this offseason.
"If the subject [of Owens] came up, it was very lighthearted," Parcells said.
Once questions about Owens slowed, Parcells talked about his reasons for signing a contract extension through 2007.
"I like it and I'm challenged by it," he said, also throwing in that he did it "knowing full well that when you get to be my age [64], things can happen."
Parcells is 25-24 over three seasons in Dallas, counting a loss in his only playoff game. They missed the playoffs the last two seasons.
"It hasn't gone exactly the way I wanted it to go," he said. "I think we were a lot closer to being pretty good last year than anybody really knows."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Mark Guidry sat atop Lemons Forever with the winner's blanket of lilies draped over the Kentucky Oaks champion. He hopes to be smelling roses Saturday. Lemons Forever, a 47-1 long shot who trailed by 14 lengths down the backside, staged the biggest upset in the Oaks' 132-year history Friday, winning by 1� lengths. "This is big-time," exclaimed winning trainer Dallas Stewart. Indeed. Lemons Forever covered 1 1-8 miles in 1:50.07 and paid $96.20, $37 and $18 as the longest shot in the $685,900 race. The previous highest winning odds were 40-1 on Lemco in 1903. "Anybody knows you got your ups and your downs," Guidry said, "but right now we're on an up and I'm very grateful." Guidry has a chance to pull off the first Oaks-Derby double since jockey Jerry Bailey did in 1993. The two-day wager rewards bettors who correctly select the winners of both races. Guidry will ride Sharp Humor in Saturday's Derby. If they win, the double would trigger a probable payout of $2,755.80. "You can't count us out until the race is over," he said. "Then I'll say we got beat." Balance, the 8-5 wagering favorite in the Kentucky Derby eve race for fillies, finished 11th, disappointing her backers among the crowd of 108,065 -- second-largest in Oaks history. Ermine returned $11.20 and $7.80 at 10-1 odds. Bushfire was disqualified from third and placed sixth for interfering with Red Cherries Spin near the wire. Wait a While was moved up to third and paid $6.40, while Wonder Lady Anne was fourth. The $2 trifecta paid $12,186.60. Lemons Forever broke slowly out of the gate and was 14 lengths behind pacesetter Miss Norman after a half-mile. "I didn't think I'd be that far back going into the first turn," said Guidry, who was riding the filly for the first time in a race. "I just took my time and gave her an opportunity to run her best and she proved the best." Stewart also co-owns Lemons Forever. He is a former protege of Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, whose Ex Caelis was last in the full field of 14 fillies. "I've won a lot of good races and I'm lucky to have great owners, but this is the ultimate," said Stewart, who opened his own stable in 1997. Stewart's accent belies his New Orleans roots. He was affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which left his relatives widely scattered as they tried to recover. "It was difficult but we were blessed in my family that we all had insurance and everything went well," he said. "We stuck together and we helped each other. It was a little tough being spread out in three places."

OTTAWA (AP)
-- Chris Drury figured it wouldn't take long to settle this shootout.
Drury scored 18 seconds into overtime after Tim Connolly netted his second goal of the night with 10.7 seconds remaining in regulation and the Buffalo Sabres stunned the Ottawa Senators with a 7-6 victory Friday in a wild Eastern Conference semifinal opener.
"Down the stretch, it was pretty amazing how many goals were scored," Drury said. "Sitting in the locker room you had the feeling it was going to be a quick end."
The teams scored three goals in the final 1:37 of regulation as Buffalo's Derek Roy tied it at 5 with a short-handed effort for his second goal of the game -- his team-record tying fifth point -- at 18:23. But Bryan Smolinski scored his second 24 seconds later during the same power play to give Ottawa its fifth straight lead, 6-5.
"It wasn't your typical playoff game," Roy said.
The Sabres pressed for one more, and Connolly got it as he swept a puck that lay within Ray Emery's reach up and over the rookie goalie to shock the sellout crowd.
"We weren't going to give up," Connolly said. "We came back a few times during the hockey game and we've been able to come back all year long and we're never going to give up until the game's over, and I think that's a credit to this hockey team."
Buffalo has been scoring goals in bunches. The Sabres beat Philadelphia 7-1 to clinch the first-round series in which they also had an 8-2 victory.
The winning goal was truly sudden as Drury beat Emery with a shot from the left circle.
"We couldn't play worse and we still had a chance to win it," Senators coach Bryan Murray said. "I'm disappointed. We were so sloppy with the puck."
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series won't be until Monday because the arena is unavailable over the weekend.
Five of the game's 13 goals were scored within the first or last minute of a period, including Mike Grier's opener just 35 seconds in which put Buffalo up 1-0. That was the Sabres' only lead until they won.
Mike Fisher set a Senators record for the fastest playoff goal from the start of a period when he scored 16 seconds into the third to make it 5-4. Jason Spezza and Bryan Smolinski scored 15 seconds apart early in the second, setting a Senators record for fastest two playoff goals.
"It's disappointing," Fisher said. "We played well throughout parts of the game, carried the play, forechecked well, skated and did some good things, but we just gave them too many chances offensively, odd-man rushes and some bad decisions defensively.
"You can't be doing if you want to beat this team. They're skilled, they're offensive and they thrive on odd-man rushes and counterattacks."
Martin Havlat and Dany Heatley each had a goal and an assist for Ottawa, which led the NHL with 314 goals this season.
Teppo Numminen also scored for the Sabres.
Fisher, still wearing a wire face shield to protect an injury sustained in Ottawa's first-round win over Tampa Bay, got a rebound of Wade Redden's point shot that struck Buffalo defenseman Toni Lydman and put a shot past Miller into the left side.
The Sabres scored twice in the second despite being held to four shots in the period.
Roy, who also assisted on Numminen's power-play goal in the first, scored his second goal of the playoffs with 30 seconds left in the frame to tie it at 4.
The teams combined for four goals in the first 6:56, including Numminen's power-play goal which tied it at 2.
Spezza got his third of the playoffs to tie it at 3:05 and Smolinski scored at 3:20 as Ottawa took a 2-1 lead with two goals during a 4-on-4.
After Numminen tied it, the Senators came close to regaining the lead at 9:31 when a loose puck got behind Miller, but Henrik Tallinder reached down and swatted the puck away from the goal line and under the goalie's right pad.
Ottawa had another chance later in the period when Peter Schaefer hit the right post with a backhand as he elected to shoot on a short-handed 2-on-1 with Fisher at 14:22. The Senators broke through early in the second on Havlat's seventh goal of the playoffs. Havlat got behind defenseman Dmitri Kalinin after taking Christoph Schubert's long pass up the middle and deked Miller before beating him with a backhand to make it 3-2.
Connolly scored a short-handed goal at 3:29 to square it at 3 as he shot on a 2-on-1 with Paul Gaustad.
Ottawa took its third lead, 4-3, moments later when Heatley scored a power-play goal at 4:15 on the Senators' third rebound off Redden's point shot.
Heatley finally put the puck past Miller from the right side of the net, 5 seconds after Ottawa's two-man advantage expired. Miller initially stopped rebound shots by Heatley and Zdeno Chara with Buffalo's Jason Pominville still in the penalty box.
"We got the lead and then gave it up and then we came back again," Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "We did a lot of good things but we know we

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP)
-- A young Mighty Ducks goaltender is at it again in the playoffs -- and his name isn't Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
Ilya Bryzgalov posted his second consecutive shutout Friday night when Anaheim opened the Western Conference semifinals with a 5-0 rout of Colorado. Teemu Selanne helped provide the offensive punch, with a goal and two assists against his former Avalanche teammates.
Bryzgalov, who started again over 2003 playoffs MVP Giguere, is the first rookie to post back-to-back postseason shutouts since Toronto's Frank McCool had three straight in 1945.
"I'm not really surprised. The team played very well and helped me stop the puck," said Bryzgalov, a 25-year-old Russian who was coming off a 3-0 victory over Calgary in Game 7 of the first-round series.
The Ducks scored four times in the second period, including goals by Selanne and Joffrey Lupul in the final minute to break the game open. Bryzgalov made 29 saves after stopping all 22 he faced in his clinching win at Calgary.
He only allowed three goals on 93 shots in four games against the Flames.
Bryzgalov got lots of help in this series opener from the Ducks' defense, which prevented the Avalanche from getting off few quality shots.
"The defensemen make my job easier. Our team is playing very well and I am feeling very well, too," he said. "Our team had a great performance and they didn't give a lot of scoring chances. The guys played great."
Defenseman Scott Niedermayer said, "He's playing well right now. He's doing his job, obviously, and making the saves he needs to make and it's great. It's fortunate we have the two goalies we have."
Colorado's Jose Theodore allowed all five Anaheim goals on 34 shots.
While the Ducks had only one day off between wrapping up their first-round series and beginning the matchup against Colorado, they dominated the Avalanche, who eliminated Dallas on Sunday.
"The Game 7 in Calgary, we played really well and this was a carry-over of that," Selanne said. "Sometimes you don't have so much time to think about the next series, and we just jumped into this series right away."
Coach Randy Carlyle liked the Ducks' energy level.
"We were able to turn the page on what happened in the last series and refocus and re-energize ourselves," he said.
The Avalanche simply looked flat.
"Physically they were stronger and they wanted the puck more than we did," Colorado defenseman Rob Blake said. "They dominated pretty much all facets of the game. We've got to compete more."
Said coach Joel Quenneville: "We didn't have anything going for us. They beat us to every loose puck."
The start was the third of the postseason for Bryzgalov, who played in a 2-1 overtime defeat in the opening game against Calgary while Giguere was sidelined by a lower body injury. Giguere returned and wasn't particularly effective, so Bryzgalov started again in the crucial Game 6, a 2-1 victory. Then he won Game 7.
Giguere was sensational for the Ducks in 2003 when they made it to the Stanley Cup finals and lost Game 7 to New Jersey.
Selanne sped down on a breakaway and beat Theodore with a backhander on the glove side with 55 seconds left in the second period for his fifth of this postseason.
Fifty seconds later, he picked up his own rebound near the left post and slid the puck across the crease, where Lupul tapped it in for his second goal of the playoffs.
After Samuel Pahlsson opened the scoring at 2:38 of the second period, Chris Kunitz gave Anaheim a 2-0 lead at 10:24. Travis Moen made it 5-0 midway through the final period.
Kunitz, skating through the right circle, picked up a rebound of a shot by Francois Beauchemin that bounced some 10 feet in front of the goal. Kunitz took a shot that got past Theodore but hit the right post. The Ducks left winger then controlled the puck again and slipped it into the net as he skated past the post.
The goal was his second of the playoffs.
Pahlsson, also netting his second of this postseason, scored on a slap shot from the left circle at 2:38 of the period. Colorado was down a man on the play because left wing Andrew Brunette was lying on his face back up ice. Beauchemin had flattened him with a shoulder.
Brunette lay there for a couple of minutes before getting up and slowly skating off. He had a jaw injury and didn't return. He is tied for the team lead with three playoff goals.
Theodore had a busy first period, facing 14 shots -- 13 in the last 15 minutes -- while his Colorado teammates got off only four at Bryzgalov. The Ducks finally scored on their first shot of the second period.
Notes: Selanne's goal was his 22nd in the playoffs. ... Because of an arena conflict, dates of the sixth and seventh games, if necessary, were switched to May 16 and May 18, with Game 6 at Colorado and Game 7 at Anaheim. ... Anaheim RW Corey Perry was scratched because of a knee injury. ... All four meetings between the Avalanc

MIAMI (AP)
-- Some of the lights went out Friday night at Dolphin Stadium, forcing a delay in the fourth inning of the Florida Marlins' game against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The power outage didn't last long -- not with Albert Pujols around.
Pujols hit his 16th home run to spark a seven-run fifth inning, and the Cardinals beat Florida 7-2 to snap a four-game losing streak, their longest since the 2004 World Series.
Playing in his team's 30th game, Pujols tied Cy Williams of the 1923 Philadelphia Phillies for the fewest games needed to reach 16 homers.
Imagine Pujols' pace if he was healthy. He sat out Tuesday's game because of a stiff back, and fouled a ball off his left ankle Thursday.
"I feel a little sore," he said. "There are some things I can't do playing defense. Hopefully it's getting better. I've played hurt before. I've just got to play smart and not push it."
Jeff Suppan (3-2) won his third consecutive start, allowing five hits and two runs in 8 1-3 innings. After St. Louis gave him a lead, he retired 10 in a row.
"He was a master," manager Tony La Russa said. "He made so many great pitches."
The Cardinals, who matched a franchise record for April victories with 17, had been winless in May. They snapped an even longer streak: 13 consecutive losses on Cinco de Mayo since winning on May 5, 1992.
"I was unaware of that. Thirteen? Wow," Suppan said, tongue in cheek. "I'm happy to be a part of this."
The game was halted for 18 minutes in the fourth inning when the lights malfunctioned. Unfortunately for the Marlins, power was restored, and they lost their eighth home game in a row.
Sergio Mitre (1-4) shut out the Cardinals for four innings, but retired only one more batter while giving up all seven runs in the fifth.
"A terrible job," said Mitre, who lost his fourth consecutive decision. "One inning will kill you."
David Eckstein walked and John Rodriguez singled to start the fifth, and Pujols hit the first pitch into the right-field stands to break a scoreless tie.
"It's exciting when they have to come in to him," Suppan said. "Watching him is so impressive."
The Marlins unraveled from there. Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen singled, and both advanced on an error by center fielder Reggie Abercrombie. Following a groundout, Gary Bennett hit a two-run single through the drawn-in infield.
Aaron Miles reached on a bunt single, and an errant throw by catcher Matt Treanor put runners at second and third. Suppan singled home a run, prompting boos from the crowd of 13,266, and Eckstein's sacrifice fly put the Cardinals ahead 7-0.
"That inning everyone got involved," La Russa said.
Florida scored in the eighth when Hanley Ramirez tripled and came home on Dan Uggla's groundout. In the ninth, La Russa gave Suppan a shot at his first complete game since 2003, but the right-hander came out after giving up a walk and a single. Alfredo Amezaga drove in a run with a pinch-hit single off John Hancock.
The Cardinals finished with 11 hits. They had totaled only 10 runs in the first four games of the trip, all losses.
Edmonds went 2-for-3 to hike his average to .220. Henry Rodriguez also had two hits in five at-bats, but his average fell to .429.
Pujols went 2-for-3 and is at .326. He set a big league record for homers in April with 14 and still leads the majors.
"You can say he's so hot right now, but he's always like this," Girardi said. "That's who he is."
Actually, Pujols was in a 1-for-12 slump this week before he singled in the third.
Notes: Before Pujols hit No. 16, the Cardinals' past eight home runs had been solo homers. ... Suppan improved his career record to 97-96. Over the past three starts, he has given up four earned runs in 21 1-3 innings. ... The outing was Suppan's longest since June 24, 2005, when he pitched 8 1/3 innings against Pittsburgh in an 8-1 win.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Tony Parker's hip was sore and his arms were aching -- and he could already feel the burn from the San Antonio Spurs' next playoff game less than 48 hours ahead.
Yet the young point guard was thrilled to be rid of an even bigger pain: The Sacramento Kings, who stretched the defending champions in all kinds of ways before ultimately behaving like a typical No. 8 seed in Game 6.
Parker scored a playoff career-high 31 points and Tim Duncan had 15 as the Spurs finally shook the Kings, finishing off their first-round series 105-83 Friday night.
With an 18-1 run spanning halftime and fundamentally flawless play down the stretch, the top-seeded Spurs advanced to the second round for the sixth consecutive season. And their next matchup is a grabber: On Sunday afternoon, the Spurs will host the fourth-seeded Dallas Mavericks, their biggest rivals.
They were led out of unfriendly Arco Arena by the superb play of Parker, who helped take control of the game on a bruised right leg when Sacramento's Ron Artest was briefly sidelined by a sprained ankle -- a twist that turned Game 6 in San Antonio's favor.
"I'm happy that the series is over," said Parker, who surpassed his previous high from a 2004 game against the Lakers. "Sacramento is a really great team. They're definitely not an 8 seed. ... We'll see [how the leg feels]. I'm going to count on all those new machines we've got, and be ready for Sunday."
The Mavericks, who finished their first-round sweep of the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday, chased San Antonio in the Western Conference standings all season, ultimately falling three games short of the Spurs' franchise-record 63-win season.
While Dallas cruised, the Spurs had a rough round in between blowout victories in the first and last games -- but they finished strong. Bruce Bowen scored 16 points in Game 6 as the NBA's best road team during the regular season also closed out a series on the road for the seventh time in the last four playoffs, barely noticing the sellout Sacramento crowd's cheers and jeers.
"It was great to finish this series in pretty convincing fashion," Duncan said. "Those guys were playing some of the best basketball in the league, and they won some tough games, so it was good to finish those guys up."
Mike Bibby scored 19 points and Bonzi Wells had 17 points and 11 rebounds in another standout game for the Kings, who took two games from the Spurs at Arco Arena last week. Artest had 11 points on 2-of-11 shooting while playing on an injured ankle, but Sacramento didn't have the poise or the resourcefulness to rally after San Antonio took control in the third quarter.
"We all had confidence we would win," said Wells, who probably earned a fat free-agent contract with his inspired series. "I basically had my bags packed [for Game 7]."
The Spurs scored the final five points of the first half after Artest limped to the locker room with 1:58 left. San Antonio then made a 16-3 run to open the second, getting consecutive 3-pointers from Bowen and another from Brent Barry to take a 61-41 lead.
"I think the wind did go out of their sails when he got hurt," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "It's hard to quantify that, but I thought it had an effect, because we tried to take advantage of that."
Manu Ginobili scored two baskets while Artest was hobbled, and Parker scored 14 points in the third quarter, including a long 3-pointer at the buzzer after Kevin Martin hit one for the Kings.
Parker also left the game in the fourth quarter to rest his strained and bruised right leg, but returned quickly as the Kings never got closer than 14 points.
"Such a bad time to get an ankle sprain -- such an unfortunate break," Artest said. "Pretty sore to cut and stuff. I couldn't do what I wanted to do."
The Kings couldn't become the third No. 8 seed to win a playoff series, but their late-season surge and a strong effort against the champs bodes well for next season. Wells is the only Sacramento regular who isn't signed through at least 2007 -- though coach Rick Adelman also doesn't have a contract after eight consecutive playoff trips.
"My situation, tonight is not the time to talk about it," Adelman said. "The smoke will clear, and we'll see what happens."
The Kings rolled into the playoffs with 25 wins in their last 36 regular-season games, and had been nothing but trouble for the defending champs since Game 2 in San Antonio, where they nearly won before Barry's tying 3-pointer took a fortuitous bounce in an overtime thriller.
Sacramento took Game 3 on Martin's layup over Duncan as time expired, then stuck with the Spurs into the late minutes of Game 5 before San Antonio pulled it out.
The Kings hadn't lost a Game 6 at home since 1951, when they were the Rochester Royals. Sacramento also hadn't been eliminated from the playoffs at home since the Lakers did it in Game 7 of the me