By JAIME ARON
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 26, 2006; 1:28 AM

SAN ANTONIO -- Maybe the Sacramento Kings would've preferred being blown out again over what the San Antonio Spurs did to them Tuesday night.

Dominant early and resilient late, the Kings were forced into overtime by a 3-pointer from Brent Barry that hit the rim twice, went high and fell through with 4 seconds left in regulation.

Then Manu Ginobili carried the defending champions to a 128-119 victory in Game 2 of their first-round series.

Game 3 is Friday night in Sacramento. With so many days off, Kings fans might start wondering whether the Spurs could possibly find another way to break their hearts.

San Antonio had its way with Sacramento in the opener, breaking things open in the second quarter and winning by 34. Perhaps thinking this one would be just as easy, especially with Kings forward Ron Artest serving a one-game suspension, the Spurs came out flat and were down by five at halftime.

Although San Antonio snapped out of it and went up by 10 in the third quarter, Bonzi Wells, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Artest's replacement, Kevin Martin, refused to let Sacramento go away.

Led in the fourth quarter by Abdur-Rahim, the Kings were up 106-103 with under a minute left.

After Michael Finley hit a long jumper to get San Antonio within a point, Wells and Ginobili each went 1-of-2 at the foul line, leaving the Kings up 107-106 with 17 seconds to play. Martin upped it to 109-106 with a pair of free throws.

With the Spurs down to their last chance, Ginobili drove the lane and found Barry wide open in the right corner. His shot hit the far inside of the rim, came back to the front inside, flew straight up and dropped right down for a tie.

Abdur-Rahim took Sacramento's final shot of regulation, a longer jumper than he would've liked that missed wide.

Mike Bibby, who was 1-of-13 through four quarters, opened overtime with two jumpers that left the Kings ahead 113-112. But Ginobili was already starting to take over.

In a brief span, he eluded Martin for a layup off an inbounds pass, stole the ball from Bibby and started a fast break that ended with a layup by Parker, then drew a foul on Bibby while putting up a 3-pointer. He made all three shots for a 117-114 lead halfway through the extra 5-minute period. Sacramento never got any closer.

Ginobili led the Spurs with 32 points. He also had nine assists. Parker was far from the speedy dominator he was in the opener, but still produced 22 points and 10 assists.

Barry scored 22 and shot 8-of-12, including 4-of-7 on 3-pointers.

Tim Duncan, playing on his 30th birthday, had 14 points and 13 rebounds. He went about 19 minutes between baskets in the first half and was in foul trouble the rest of the game, although he never fouled out after getting his fifth with 9:38 left.

Wells made nine of 10 shots in the first half, putting in his only miss, and finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds. He fouled out with 17 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Abdur-Rahim was 12-of-19 for 27 points with nine rebounds. Martin scored a career-high 26.

Sacramento came out intent on taking the ball to the rim and wound up getting 16 of its 22 first-half baskets in the paint and leading 56-51 at the break. San Antonio was only that close because it made eight 3-pointers.

The Spurs opened the third quarter with a 14-2 run and forced Sacramento to miss nine of its first 10 shots. San Antonio went up by 10 when Ginobili leaped to catch a deflected pass and threw a behind-the-back pass _ all in one motion _ to Finley for an open 3-pointer.

But Sacramento rallied again, tying the game at 82 going into the fourth quarter and refusing to collapse. For instance, a crowd-pleasing, go-ahead layup by Parker was immediately answered by a powerful dunk from Abdur-Rahim.

Notes:@ This was Robert Horry's 200th playoff game. ... Despite new rules that allow a 13-man roster with one inactive, Artest had to be among the 12 active players. ... Every game, players get fouled when not yet shooting, then throw the ball at the rim in hopes of getting a continuation call. Van Exel appeared to get away with it at the start of the second quarter, getting rewarded with three free throws because he was behind the 3-point line _ by several steps. He made all three.