The San Antonio Spurs will try once again to secure a berth in the NBA Finals, as they visit the Phoenix Suns tonight at America West Arena for Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.

The Spurs, who are attempting to make the championship round for the second time in three years, lead this best-of-seven series 3-1. If Phoenix wins tonight, Game 6 would be played on Friday at the SBC Center.

On Monday, Amare Stoudemire poured in a game-high 31 points and Joe Johnson added 26, as the Suns defeated the Spurs, 111-106, to stave off elimination in Game 4 of the conference finals at the SBC Center. Reigning MVP Steve Nash finished with 17 points and 12 assists for the Suns, who haven't been swept in a best-of-seven series since the Los Angeles Lakers won four straight against them in the 1989 conference finals.

Quentin Richardson added 14 points in Game 4's victory, while Shawn Marion posted 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Suns, who are 5-2 as the visitor in this year's postseason.

Manu Ginobili netted 28 points for the Spurs, who dropped to 6-2 at home this postseason, while Tim Duncan ended with 15 points and 16 rebounds in the loss. Bruce Bowen and Robert Horry also added 15 points apiece and Tony Parker chipped in 13 points for San Antonio, which had won the first three games of this set.

Stoudemire has been unbelievable for the Suns in this series. The 22-year-old All-Star forward is averaging 35.8 points and 8.3 rebounds in the first four contests.

No team in NBA history has ever comeback from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.

After winning Game 1 of a playoff series, San Antonio has won 15 of its last 16 sets in the postseason.

San Antonio has won nine of its last 11 Game 5s in the postseason, and is 5-2 as the visitor in this year's postseason. The Spurs have won five of their last six games when they have the chance to eliminate their opponent from the postseason.

The Suns have lost three of their last four games when facing elimination. They have lost five of their last six Game 5s, and are 4-3 at America West Arena in the postseason.

There is plenty of playoff history between the teams, as this is the seventh time that these clubs have met in the postseason. The Suns defeated San Antonio in the first round in 1992 and 2000 and in the semis in 1993. The Spurs beat Phoenix in the opening round in 1996, 1998 and 2003.

San Antonio has made it to the conference finals for the third time in the last five seasons, while the Suns have made it back to this round for the first time since 1993.

Last season, the Spurs, who defeated New Jersey in six games in the 2003 NBA Finals, were eliminated by the Lakers in six games in the conference semifinals.

The Spurs are playing in the Western Conference finals for the seventh time. They played the Lakers in 1982, 1983 and 2001, Houston in 1995, Portland in 1999, and Dallas in 2003. San Antonio is 2-4 in this round.

In this year's playoffs, San Antonio eliminated the seventh-seeded Denver Nuggets in five games in the first round and ousted No. 3 Seattle in six contests in the conference semifinals.

The high-powered Suns swept No. 8 Memphis in the first round and defeated the Mavericks in six games in the semifinals. Phoenix has made it to the conference finals for the seventh time in franchise history. The Suns, who also made it to this round in 1976, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1990, 1993, are 2-4 in the conference finals.

The Suns, who defeated Seattle in seven games in the 1993 conference finals, are playing in the postseason after a one-year absence. In the 2003 playoffs, Phoenix was eliminated by the Spurs in six games in the first round after going 44-38 in the 2002-03 regular season.

Phoenix is the first Western Conference team since 1989 to make the conference finals after missing the playoffs the year before. The Suns were the last team from the West to achieve that, as they won just 28 contests in the 1987-88 campaign but improved 27 games the following season and would eventually get swept by the Lakers in the West finals.

During the regular season, the Spurs won two of the three meetings between the clubs. San Antonio was victorious on December 28th at the SBC Center and on January 21st at America West Arena, while the Suns beat the Spurs, 107-101, on March 9th on their homecourt.