There was no one on Saturday afternoon, as San Antonio looked like a two-man show. The Spurs wasted a spectacular 43-point performance from Parker, a solid 25-point game from Duncan and terrific team defense against Dallas' top threats, Dirk Nowitzki and Terry .

The Spurs forced Terry into 14 missed shots, held Nowitzki to nine attempts and still lost 99-90 to fall behind 3-1 in this Western Conference first-round playoff series.

While Dallas had seven players score nine or more points, San Antonio had a lonely two. Matt Bonner, the guy who was supposed to replace Robert Horry, scored the same number of points as a dead man. Michael Finley scored seven.

Both of them threw up desperate three-point attempts in the final three minutes and barely came near the basket's zip code. Finley's last heave was stuck between the basket and the backboard, kind of like his team is now snagged between a rock and a much harder place.

Roger Mason, put in the Manu Ginobili role as a sparkplug off the bench, needs a tuneup because he was as efficient as the sidelined star. Mason went scoreless in 17 minutes.

All looked either overwhelmed or, as in Finley's case, over the hill. Neither Bonner nor Mason had ever started an NBA playoff game before this series , and it shows. Neither seems equipped to handle the pressure.

Consequently, the Spurs are facing elimination in Game 5 on Tuesday night and must sweep every remaining game to advance. Dallas is clearly the better team, and San Antonio could be knocked out of the post-season in the first round for the first time with Duncan in uniform.

This outcome isn't totally unexpected, but it's painful to watch the total decline of the Spurs, who almost certainly will never again approach the title-run majesty of their four championships in nine years.

Not with this cast anyway. And especially not with this non-supporting cast.

Gregg Popovich might be forgiven slightly because he inserted defensive stopper Bruce Bowen to keep rein on Mavericks guard Jose Barea, but the rest were downright awful.

Other than Parker's two three-pointers, the Spurs were 4 of 18 from behind the arc after setting a club record for treys this season. The three starters besides Parker and Duncan had half as many turnovers (six) as they did points (12).

Pop is to blame, however, for not turning to George Hill earlier in this series. He ruled the rookie scoring guard not playoff-ready way back in March, but Hill hit a pair of threes Saturday in the waning stages. And even Parker suggested Hill quot;may be an option we can use in Game 5.quot;

Consider the most critical stat of this pivotal Game 4: From the time Bowen hit a first-quarter shot to give the Spurs a 21-16 lead until the close of the third period when Bowen's three-pointer whittled the Mavs' lead to nine, no Spurs player outside of Parker and Duncan hit a field goal.

There was a Kurt Thomas free throw, another from Ime Udoka and two more from Drew Gooden, but otherwise the Spurs were playing two-on-five Basketball. Bet on the five every time.

That was a span of 28 minutes, 40 seconds - and 51 Spurs possessions - without a bucket from someone besides Tim or Tony.

Parker played as well as the little dynamo can play, electrifying the American Airlines Center sellout crowd until his legs betrayed him in the final quarter with flat perimeter shots and two uncharacteristic, missed free throws.

quot;He was all-out gassed,quot; Duncan said. quot;He didn't have his legs his last couple of shots.quot;

The sore-kneed Duncan wasn't vintage Duncan as much as he was a very good power forward whose only negative in a gritty double-double was seven botched free throws in 18 attempts.

He graciously took part of the blame, saying, quot;We have to create a little more space for our guys to get those shots a little more wide-open.quot;

Any more open, and their teammates will be in the gym alone. But the San Antonio offense began and ended with the main two, which allowed the Mavs to sag on those two even more.

The Spurs might as well put up a sign outside their locker room:

Help Wanted. Apply within immediately.

Problem is, Horry isn't walking through that door. A younger Finley isn't walking through that door, either. Ginobili may walk through it, but he'll be wearing an expensive suit, with his season - and perhaps the Spurs' season - ended in March by a stress fracture in his ankle .

Hill might answer that cry for help, although he's likely to serve only as a Band-Aid. Popovich inserted him in the game in the fourth quarter, and the rookie out of IUPUI defended Terry and hit a pair of treys. His bomb from the wing with 2:30 remaining cut the Mavericks' lead to three. But San Antonio never scored again.

Other than Parker and Duncan, the Spurs were just PU.

kbohls@statesman.com