SAN ANTONIO ? Manu Ginobili and Nazr Mohammed made sure the San Antonio Spurs didn’t have to sweat out the closing seconds of this Game 5.

Ginobili celebrated his return to the starting lineup with a career playoff-best 39 points, and Mohammed scored nine of his 19 points during a 17-3 third-quarter run, sending the Spurs past the Seattle SuperSonics, 103-90, Tuesday night and putting them within a victory of the Western Conference finals.

The cozy victory was a relief to San Antonio fans, who remembered the Spurs’ last two second-round Game 5s. Playing the Lakers both times, San Antonio won on a Los Angeles miss in the closing seconds two years ago, then lost last year on Derek Fisher’s amazing buzzer-beater.

The Spurs never even trailed this time. The only tie was 50-50 at halftime and it was smashed by the huge spurt that opened the second half.

“I don’t know if it was pivotal, but it was important for our team,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said.

Ray Allen led Seattle with 19 points, but he practically was invisible in the first and third quarters. Pestered by nemesis Bruce Bowen, Allen was scoreless in the opening period and his only point in the third was a free throw with 4.2 seconds left. He missed three foul shots that quarter after being 55-of-59 from the line in the postseason.

Sonics forward Rashard Lewis missed his second straight game because of a sprained left big toe. He may return Thursday night for Game 6 in Seattle, when the Sonics will be trying to extend their season.

San Antonio's Manu Ginobili drives to the basket against Seattle's Nick Collison, left, during Game 5 of their Western Conference semifinals. Ginobili scored a career playoff-best 39 points in the Spurs' 103-90 victory Tuesday in San Antonio.

“We know we can play better,” McMillan said. “We know we didn’t execute, especially defensively.”

The good news for Seattle fans is that the home team has won every game this series. The bad news: Coming into Tuesday night, Game 5 winners have won 103 of the 123 seven-game series that were tied at 2.