NBA Playoff Preview - San Antonio vs. Utah

(Sports Network) - The third-seeded San Antonio Spurs and No. 4 Utah battle for the right to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals, as the teams meet in a best-of-seven series.

This is the fourth time that these teams have met in the playoffs. The Jazz are 3-0 against San Antonio in the postseason. Utah defeated the Spurs, 3-1, in the first round of the 1994 playoffs, and in the semifinals in 1996, 4-2, and 1998, 4-1.

San Antonio has advanced to the Western Conference finals for the eighth time in franchise history. They played the Lakers in 1982, 1983 and 2001, Houston in 1995, Portland in 1999, Dallas in 2003 and Phoenix in 2005. San Antonio is 3-4 in this round.

The Spurs, who lost in seven to the Dallas Mavericks in last year's semifinals, knocked out No. 6 Denver in five games in the opening round and survived a tough six-game series with the second-seeded Suns.

San Antonio's victory over the Suns was full of controversy. Spurs forward Robert Horry was suspended two games by the NBA, while Phoenix forwards Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw received one game apiece for an incident in Game 4.

The penalties came as the result of a flagrant foul call on Horry, who delivered a forearm to Suns guard Steve Nash with 18.2 seconds left in Game 4 at the AT&T Center. Horry was suspended for flagrantly fouling Nash and striking Raja Bell above the shoulders with a forearm. Stoudemire and Diaw were suspended for leaving "the immediate vicinity of their bench" during an altercation, according to Stu Jackson, the NBA's executive vice president of basketball operations.