updated 2:47 a.m. ET April 30, 2008

SAN ANTONIO - Tim Duncan was not all smiles after the San Antonio Spurs eliminated the Phoenix Suns yet again from the playoffs. Written on the big man’s face was only one thing: relief.

“Just happy we’re done with them,” he said.

Really, was there ever any doubt?

The Spurs dispatched the Suns with a 92-87 Game 5 victory Tuesday in what has become almost a postseason ritual for the defending champions.

The veteran team moves on to the Western Conference semifinals against the No. 2 seed Hornets, led by playoff rookie Chris Paul, in a series that begins Saturday in New Orleans.

The Suns go home again, falling to their postseason nemesis for the second straight year and the fourth time in five playoff appearances. The Hornets finished off their series with the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, also in five games.

“We went up against a team that knows how to win,” Suns coach Mike D’Antoni said. “Every time we needed to close something out — a half or a game — they got the best of us. That’s why they’re the champions.”

Duncan had 29 points and 17 rebounds and Tony Parker scored 31 points for San Antonio. They were the only Spurs to score in the double digits.

Boris Diaw, who had a near triple-double in the Suns’ rout of the Spurs in Game 4, led the Suns with 22 points. Amare Stoudemire had 15 points and 11 rebounds and Shaquille O’Neal added 13 points.

“Every year it seems like we always play the Spurs, and they beat us every single time,” Stoudemire said. “As long as I’m here we’re going to break it sooner or later, because I’m tired of losing to these guys. I’m sick and fed up.”

Five Suns players scored in double figures and they outshot the Spurs from the field, but they had a number of costly turnovers down the stretch.

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With the Spurs up 88-87 after battling back and forth with the Suns throughout the fourth quarter, Manu Ginobili, who had been cold all night, hit one of two from the line with 25 seconds on the clock.

Steve Nash couldn’t get ahold of Raja Bell’s inbounds pass, and Phoenix sent Ginobili to the line again with 23 seconds left. Ginobili hit both this time to make it 91-87.

Nash’s 3-point attempt missed and Duncan hit another free throw. Diaw’s last-second 3 missed, but it wouldn’t have made a difference.

Nash had three of the Suns’ seven fourth-quarter turnovers and finished with only three assists.

“We should have probably just calmed down a little bit. I’ll take the responsibility for that. I know I made a couple of key turnovers that cost us, and we didn’t deserve to win,” Nash said.

“I think on paper we have more talent than they do. But I think their experience, their commitment and understanding of what they’re trying to do is greater than ours. Their ability to play together and make small plays on both ends of the floor is unsurpassed.”

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The Spurs outscored the Suns 23-15 in the fourth quarter, led by nine points apiece from Duncan and Parker.

“We treated it like a Game 7 in the fourth quarter,” Parker said. “We just stayed in the game and kept fighting.”

It was widely predicted that this might finally be the Suns’ year — that they were hungrier that the aging Spurs. A seven-game series wouldn’t have been a surprise and plenty expected this to be the best of all the first-round series.

Early on, it delivered with a Game 1 double-overtime thriller that the Spurs won after a couple of clutch 3-pointers.

San Antonio won its second game at home, then really took control of the series by rolling over the Suns in Phoenix in Game 3.

Phoenix tried to become the first NBA team to come back from an 0-3 deficit, and they won Game 4 in Phoenix with gusto. They stayed in Game 5 until the end, trying to force a Game 6 back in Phoenix.

Instead, the Suns go home, falling short despite the midseason blockbuster trade for O’Neal — who was brought in specifically to match up better with teams like San Antonio.

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