San Antonio ? While the Knicks’ Isiah Thomas has successfully sold Jim Dolan on the absurd notion that Eddy Curry can one day be a championship-caliber big man, we have the genuine thing in the Finals.

Tim Duncan is the primary reason the Spurs came in as prohibitive favorites against LeBron James, and he’s one of reasons this series has the makings of a San Antonio sweep, or one that will only go five games, after the Spurs’ 103-92 win Sunday night in Game 2. So long as Tony Parker makes the team flight to Cleveland today and Duncan continues to perform at a level that Curry can only dream of, the Cavaliers are doomed. But then again, the Spurs should be playing in a few more Finals before Duncan retires.

“As Pop says, ‘When Tim retires, we’re all gonna retire,'” said San Antonio owner Peter Holt, referring to Spurs VP-coach Gregg Popovich. “Tim’s been that important to this franchise.”

You can talk about George Gervin and Artis Gilmore and David Robinson and all the other great Spurs, dating back to the ABA days of Simmie Hill in the late 1960s. But no one changed the landscape around here like Duncan. Before Duncan’s arrival, Robinson was viewed as a soft underachiever who never made a Finals. Now, the Admiral is fondly remembered as Duncan’s ace understudy who won two titles.

The Spurs had been to all of two conference finals in 30 years before Duncan arrived in 1998. Since then, they’ve played in four. With one more championship, which could be wrapped up as soon as Thursday, that will give them four in a nine-year span.

“If you had told me that Tim Duncan could get another ring this year – and he’d move ahead of Larry Bird in that category and tie Shaquille O’Neal with four rings – that, to me, tells you what kind of player Duncan is, from a historical standpoint,” David Stern said.

Duncan’s place in history is something worth discussing, even if the Finals really isn’t. The Cavaliers’ fourth-quarter rally Sunday night didn’t take away from the fact that this series is a bloodletting, a case of a championship team beating up on a team with a rising superstar that is otherwise low on talent and just only learning what it takes to win.

“Our effort has to be better,” said Cleveland coach Mike Brown. “Our aggression has to be higher. We’ve got to bring the juice and right now we’re not. We’re making mental errors we haven’t made throughout the playoffs. There’s no way you’re going to beat the San Antonio Spurs playing that type of basketball.”

Duncan came into the Finals stepping out of character and complaining in public, “When are we going to start seeing some Spurs highlights on the (national) TV shows?” The Spurs’ inability to close out Sunday night’s rout with a strong fourth quarter is certain to be today’s topic of conversation. But in actuality, James couldn’t get the Cavs any closer than eight points in the final three minutes, not with Parker staving off Cleveland’s final run with two clutch baskets.

“That will give them confidence going back to Cleveland,” Parker said.

Perhaps, but James and his mates did next to nothing for the first three quarters, as Cleveland made a case for being the worst team the East has sent to the championship round in decades. If you want to make a case for seeding teams in the playoffs, regardless of their conference affiliation, this was the game.

On the other side, Duncan just keeps rolling like the San Antonio River. He might be the greatest power forward to come down the pike, even if he is really a center.

“No one we’ve played in the playoffs compares to him,” said Cleveland’s Drew Gooden. “I guess it’d be like playing Shaq in a playoff series.”

Gooden, incidentally, made his remarks before Duncan started encountering Brown’s single-teaming defense. If people are hesitant to place the “greatest-ever” laurel on Duncan’s head, it might be because he does have one significant hole in his resume.

No back-to-back championships. This is usually what separates the icons from the immortals.

Duncan has never even taken the Spurs to back-to-back Finals. It doesn’t make him any lesser of a player, just less of an immortal.

Not that it matters in this series.