PHOENIX — Phoenix took away Tony Parker's easy layups just like it wanted to. So he just made jump shot after jump shot after jump shot.

The smooth San Antonio point guard burned the Suns for a career-high 41 points along with 12 assists and the Spurs rolled to a 115-99 victory last night to take a 3-0 series lead.

This was supposed to be a spectacular first-round matchup of potential NBA champions. Instead, it's been a Spurs smackdown, with Parker leading the way.

"They were backing off on the pick-and-rolls," he said, "so I just took the shot, and it felt good tonight."

Everything felt good for the defending NBA champions, who never trailed in winning their ninth consecutive playoff game and 13th of 14, dating to last season.

"We possibly played our best game of the year," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

San Antonio can complete the sweep tomorrow in Phoenix. No NBA team has come back from 0-3 to win a series.

It's the first three-game losing streak for the Suns this season.

"They were almost perfect," Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We didn't play well, and I'll take the blame for that, but you've got to give them a lot of credit. They played great."

Phoenix acquired Shaquille O'Neal to better match up with the Spurs, but the Suns are one loss away from being swept in a seven-game series for the first time since the Los Angeles Lakers did it in the 1988-89 Western Conference finals.

Tim Duncan added 23 points and 10 rebounds and Manu Ginobili scored 20 points in the Spurs' fourth consecutive playoff road victory and ninth in their last 11.

But Parker did the most damage, often on the pick-and-roll that has flustered Phoenix all series. With three different defenders trying to stop him, he finished 17-of-26 from the field.

"Tony has been very aggressive and just done a great job at both ends of the floor," Popovich said. "He's just been phenomenal. I don't know what else to say about him."

76ERS 95, PISTONS 75

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers added one more surprise victory in a season stuffed with them. The win wasn't the shocker — it was the way they completely thrashed the playoff-tested Detroit Pistons in Game 3 that was the stunner.

Andre Miller was spot on with his mid-range jumper and scored 21 points, and the rest of the Sixers ran all over the court in a dominating victory last night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round series.

Samuel Dalembert had 22 points and 16 rebounds, and the Sixers led by as many as 24 points in their first home playoff game since 2005.

"It didn't look like we had any jitters at all," Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said.

Philadelphia had no reason for nerves from start to finish. The Sixers proved their Game 1 victory was no fluke, doing everything Detroit normally did on the way to five straight trips to the Eastern Conference finals.

"They're not supposed to be where they're at," Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said. "They're up 2-1 against a team nobody thought they could beat. I could understand why they're happy."

MAVERICKS 97, HORNETS 87

DALLAS — Chris Paul raced down the court, beating most of the Dallas Mavericks. He put on the brakes with a jump stop in the lane and floated up a jumper. The ball went in all right. And then it came out.

Things were different now that he and the New Orleans Hornets are on the road — and the Mavericks are at home.

Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks finally made the Hornets look like playoff novices, pestering Paul and David West to go a combined 6-for-30 well into the fourth quarter on the way to a Game 3 victory that cut the Hornets' lead in the first-round series to 2-1.

"I think we got a lot of shots we wanted," Paul said. "We just missed them."

Nowitzki had 32 points, 19 rebounds and six assists for the Mavericks. Game 4 is tomorrow night in Dallas, where the Hornets haven't won since January 1998.

"We wanted to make sure we made it a series and win this first one," Nowitzki said. "They're going to keep coming. It's going to take the same effort, the same intensity."

With Jason Terry covering him instead of Jason Kidd, Paul finished with 16 points on 4-of-18 shooting. He still had 10 assists. West was 3 of 16 through three quarters. He wound up 6 of 20, scoring 14 points.